GURKHAS IN BELIZE
STAINLESS
BACK-UPS
IN
SALVADQ
ISRAEL’S
MASTEE
SNIPER t
SOFs HIND REWARD: $1
SEPTEMBER
1985
yC 49024
U.S. $3.00
UK £2.30
D.G.S.
CAN. S3.50
MM
The Journal of Professional Adventurers
GUNS &
ACTION
Introductory offcr:
9 ISSUES
ONLY $ 18 00
Save 20% off the one-year
single-copy price*
□ Payment enclosed (U.S. Funds only)
□ MasterCard □ VISA
Card # _ Exp. Date_
Signature_ _
Name: __ _ _
Address:_
City:__________State:_Zipcode:_
B5GFRJ
(Offer good in U.S. only.) Please allow 6*8 weeks for your first copy to be mailed.
•Savings based on annual newsstand rate of $30. Offer expires 12/31/05
the SSG-PII.
on only one shot,
shot count. +
What makes the Stevt SSG-Pi I
the ultimate police sniper rifle?
The performance you demand.
The precision you need, The
dependability you can't afford to
be without. That’s why its the
choice of leading military and law
enforcement agencies all over the
world.
The Steyr SSG-PII offers I he
advanced features you expect from
Steyr-Mannlicher. Features like a
modified bolt handle which is big¬
ger for more rapid and easier re-
^ loading. The NATO-standard quick
detachable scope mounting sys¬
tem insures rapid interchange-
ability with a wide range of optics.
/Superb workmanship is evident
throughout. The 26-inch barrel is
made of a special Boehier cold-
hammer forged steel with a twist of
•one turn in 12 inches, ideal for 165-
I 168grain match bullets. The black
AB5 Cycolac stock is tough and
rugged and includes a black ano¬
dized mounting rail for sling adjust¬
ments and removable butt spacers
L which allow length of pull to he
v adjusted bet ween 12.0 and 15
‘ inches.
BttmThe Steyr SSG-PII comes with
Wymir choice of an adjustable single
Irigger or a double set trigger,
military-type t hree position safety.
• and non-glare parkerized finish.
P Advanced design, impeccable
%af(smanship, and superior per¬
formance make the Steyr SSG-PIJ
the finest police sni per rifle you can
buy at any price. When every thing
depends on the rifle you carry, you
can depend on die Steyr SSG-PII,
ORIGINAL
Steyr SSG-PII is shown with a special Kahles
steel tube ZF-69 6x scope and optional 10-
round clip. Optional Litton M-845 night vision
device is interchangeable in less than 5
seconds, maintaining point of impact.
leares
Steyr,
acolorbrochi
i, Inc., P.O. B
GET EVEN:
The Complete Book of Dirty Tricks
This ultimate work in do-it-yourself justice makes other harassment books look like a
Sunday school picnic. You’ll never again have to “grin and bear it" when inconsider¬
ate creeps do you dirty. Learn how to get even when you’re wronged by an enemy,
victimized by a credit card company, or ripped off by any menacing organization.
Here is a manual written by a master of revenge whose wisdom will put you on top of
any situation where you used to feel helpless. Methods of revenge range from simple
pranks to sophisticated techniques of devastation. Knowing these ingenious tactics
of veteran tricksters, you’ll gain new respect foryourself. You’ll neveragain feel likea
powerless underdog. Of course this is for entertainment purposes only! 5M> x 8'/?,
hardcover, 190 pp. $12.95
A
COMMANDO FIGHTING
TECHNIQUES
by Jim Wilson and Paul Evans
Use your body as a powerful and
effective weapon by following the
fighting techniques described in this
extensively illustrated guide. The
chokes, strangles, breakaways, re¬
leases. locks, throws, sweeps,
blocks and counters demonstrated
here combine the Oriental fighting
arts with Western combat schools
of self-defense. 8 x 8. softcover, pho¬
tos. 156 pp SI 0.00
THE AR-15/M16: A PRACTICAL GUIDE
by Duncan Lon }j
The AR-15/M16. the inspiration for so many modern
assault rifles, is covered here in this definitive book Should
you wish to build your own or convert it to auto fire, Duncan
Long supplies you with parts and toot lists and detailed
step-by-step instructions. Virtually any accessory you may
wish to buy for your AR-15 is listed Invaluable to the M16
owner, this comprehensive book also covers assembly and
disassembly, conversion kits and modifications, trouble¬
shooting. ammunition, combat use. lubrication and more.
8Vj x 11. softcover. photos. 168 pp. $14.95
TONFA TACTICS
A Strategy for Total Defense
by Dr. Ted Cambordella
What single weapon combines the
power and flexibility to combat and
overwhelm the knife, club, crowbar,
nunchaku—and more? This syste¬
matic course on the tonfa will have
you flipping and smashing like a pro
in no time. Chapters detail flips,
blocks, strikes, chokes and the tonfa
against other weapons. 5% x 8VY,
softcover, 229 photos, 136 pp.
$ 12.00
U.S. MARINE CORPS DESERT HANDBOOK
Could you survive in the desert for any period of time?
Would you know how to keep sand and dust from destroy¬
ing your vehicle, weapon or communication equipment or
how to treat a scorpion bite? This comprehensive hand¬
book, issued to the 27th Marines, 7th Amphibious Brigade,
gives you the answers to these questions and much more.
Desert types and characteristics; military aspects of
deserts; effects of radiant light, static electricity and
extreme neat on equipment, desert driving techniques; first
aid; and emergency survival techniques are just someof the
topics. 5% x 8%, softcover, illus., 96 pp. $8.00
WARRIOR SECRETS
A Handbook of the Martial Arts
by Keith Yates
Masters and champions of karate,
tai chi chuan. ninjutsu. aikido, jeet
kune do, hapkido, kenpo, wushu,
judo, tae kwon-do, ju-jutsu and
kung fu share their secrets with you.
The traditions, historical develop¬
ment, and physical and mentaltrain-
ing of these arts are covered, as well
a s tec h n i q u es agai n st street attac k s.
5% x 8Vs. softcover, illus., photos,
200 pp. $10.00
THE MINI-14 EXOTIC WEAPONS SYSTEM
Use this home workshop guide to convert your Mini into a
selective-fire, silenced, S.WAI-type weapon capable of
field-clearing firepower. Provides complete workshop
plans, 40 close-up photos and full-scale templates. This
conversion process requires no machining or speciaitools.
Once completed, it takes just five minutes to drop in the
Automatic Connector (the book's secretl) or remove it as
needed. Also includes detailed plans for a quick-and-easy
caliber .223 silencer. 9x12, softcover, photos, templates,
72 pp. $12.00
NINJA KNIFE FIGHTING
by Dr. R. Kelly Hill, Jr.
Night falls. The glint of cold steel
slashes through the darkness. The
threat is real, but are you ready?
Become the self-reliant person
you’d like to be. Learn about select¬
ing a knife, grips, training targets
and drills, physical condilioningand
the Ninja response modes—Earth,
Wind, Fire and Water—thatgive you
the necessary strategic and tactical
flexibility. 8Vi x 11. hardcover, 124
photos, 128 pp $19.95
COMMANDO DAGGER
The Complete Illustrated History of
the Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife
by Leroy Thompson
The most widely recognizedfighting
knife, the F-S dagger made the vital
difference in many hand-to-hand
struggles. For the first time, here's a
comprehensive, heavily illustrated
reference on the F-S and its de¬
scendants. Over 60 knives are de¬
tailed in photos with accompanying
specs. Q'/i x 11, clothbound, 189
photos, 176 pp. $25.00
Secrets
Of the
SECRETS OF THE NINJA
by Ashida Kim
This is the real thing—onect the few
complete, hardcover studies of this
terrifying and deadly martial art Text
and photos illustrate Ninja princi¬
ples of invisibility, covert entry,
escape and evasion, assassination,
sentry removal, meditation, mind
clouding and much more. 5% x 8%,
hardcover, 200 photos, 168 pp.
$16.95
COMBAT
SURVIVAL
COURSC NOTES
COMBAT SURVIVAL
An extremely useful, completeman-
ual on physical and combat survi¬
val, training and tactics. Contains
rare info on evading and silencing
guard dogs, sabotage, intelligence
gathering, survival navigation,primi¬
tive medicine, evasion and escape,
animal traps and much more! 8te x
11, softcover, illus., 160 pp. $14.95
HOW TO GET ANYTHING ON ANYBODY
by Lee Lapin
Get the goods on others like they’re getting the goods on
you with this encyclopedia of advanced investigative and
surveillance techniques. Called "possibly the most dan¬
gerous book," this book tells how to get any info you want
about whomever you want—and how they {including Big
Bro) are getting into your private info. Here are expert ways
to secretly bug any target, over 100 sources for equipment
and superspy systems, lockpick technology, how poly¬
graphs and voice lie detectors can be tricked, counter¬
measure equipment, and much, much more. Your peace of
mind is worth the price of this book! 8’A x 11, soffcover,
illus., 264 pp. $30.00
US ARMY SPECIAL FORCES
MEDICAL HANDBOOK
The U.S. Army Special Forces are
known to train the world’s most
accomplished medics, andthis book
is the reason why. Comprehensive
info covers disease diagnosis and
treatmenL emergency war surgery
and paramedical skills, pediatrics,
obstetrics, orthopedics, emergency
dental treatment and more. 4Vfe x 7,
softcover, illus., weatherproof cover,
400 pp. $14.95
SUMMER DISCOUNT
Use the “Special Summer Discount" box on
the order form and deduct 10% from any order
of $40.00 or more! It is our way of saying,
“Have a good summer!” ORDER NOW to take
advantage of thisopportunity. OfferendsSep-
tember 1, 1985. (Available to retail customers
only.)
MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE
DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED
*
PALADIN PRESS
PO BOX 1307— JMJ
BOULDER, CO 80306
Phone (303) 443-7250
Call TOLL FREE for credit card orders:
1-800-824-7888; Ask for Operator 4249.
Alaska & Hawaii, 1-800-824-7919.
Send $1 for latest PALADIN CATALOG.
Catalog free with order.
Please send me the following lilies:
Payment;□ Check or Money Order ,□ VISA.Q MasterCard.
Card No. _ „__ _[ _
NAME_
ADDRESS
CITY_
SUBTOTAL _
Deduct 10% only from
- order over $40.00. NO
EXCEPTIONS. I
Please include* — 1
$3.00 postage
and handling „_
TOTAL
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 1
COMMAND
GUIDANCE
by Robert K. Brown
C 1 ONGRESS shall make no law
respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free ex¬
ercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech or of the press;
or the right of the people peaceably
to assemble , and to petition the
Government for a redress of griev¬
ances.
Even the most muscle-bound,
knee-jerk conservative with hairy
knuckles that drag the ground will
admit that when it comes to prop¬
aganda, the communists are mas¬
ters of the game. One of the best
tricks to winning any contest is to
beat your opponent with his own
rules. They proved it in Vietnam.
Herein lies the dou¬
ble-edged dilemma
facing everyone in the
United States, liberals
and conservatives,
everyone who really
believes in liberty and
justice for all. It is the
free nature of society
in the United States
that allows our ene¬
mies to threaten our
way of life through
propaganda, misin¬
formation, espionage
and terrorism. But to abridge any of
our sacred freedoms would be to
admit defeat.
1 quote the First Amendment to
the Constitution of the United
States just to illustrate this point in
specific reference to Central Amer¬
ica. U.S. citizens who are willing
agents of communist empire-
builders, and all the well-meaning,
unwitting dupes they line up like
lemmings, are on the march again.
(Lenin’s 1902 dictum referred to
them as “useful idiots.”)
They go under the guise of vari¬
ous groups. Probably best known is
Witness for Peace. “Witless for
Peace” is a more accurate descrip¬
tion. Another is the Committee in
Solidarity with the People of El Sal-
vador ... the group’s acronym,
C1SPES, sounds a bit like “cess¬
pool.” Then there is the National
Network in Solidarity with the Nic¬
araguan People. If one doubts the
direct ties of the NNSNP to Mana¬
gua’s communist government, call
the Nicaraguan Embassy in
Washington and ask for infor¬
mation on the country. The recep¬
tionist we talked to referred us to
NNSNP.
These three groups and others
are part of a United States network,
the largest and most important part
of a worldwide support structure
that exists in over 40 countries.
Their goal is to save the Sandinista
regime at all costs.
They are attempting to
do this by attacking
the free press and free
speech rights of pri¬
vate groups and indi¬
viduals who oppose
communist expansion
in Central America.
I am proud to say
that Soldier of Fortune
Magazine is first and
foremost on their list
of targets. What is dis¬
turbing is that they are
subverting the U.S. Constitution in
an attempt to reach their ends.
If you go to one of the many dem¬
onstrations staged by these groups,
you won’t hear them mention the
First Amendment. You’ll hear un¬
substantiated, emotional rhetoric
about anti-communists “murder¬
ing mothers, children and campesi -
nos ” and “a government that mur¬
ders non-combatants indiscrimi¬
nately in a desperate attempt to
maintain a structure of institu¬
tionalized violence.”
The pot calls the kettle black. For
suggestions on imposing institu¬
tionalized violence we would refer
Continued on page 94
Publisher
Robert K. Brown
Executive Editor
Wm. B. Guthrie
Senior Editor
Dale Andrade
Associate Editor
James L. Pate
Assistant Editor
Kim McMichael
Executive Assistant
Suzanne Westgaard
Washington Bureau Chief
Jim Graves
Foreign Correspondent
Steve Salisbury
Art Director
Craig Nunn
Art/Production Coordinator
Angie Green
Art Assistant
Margaret Martinesky
Production Assistant
Gretchen Nightingale
Advertising Production
Martha Monkman
Advertising Sales
Shirley Raley
Typographers
Thomas E. Vivrett
Eileen Bernard
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Military Small Arms Paramedic Operations
Peter G. Kokalie
Small Arms
Jake Jatras
Aviation
Dana Drenkowski
Sniping/Countersniping
Jim Leatherwood
Law Enforcement
Evan Marshall
Vietnam Veterans Affairs James P. Monaghan
Col. Chuck Allen Harry i. Claflin
Soviet Analyst Central America
David C. Isby Jay Mallin
Dr. John Peters
Expbsi vesDemolitlons
John Donovan
Military Affairs
Alexander McColl
Military History
William Brooks
Unconventional Operations
Brig. Gen. Heine Aderholt
Omega Group Ltd.:
President
Robert K. Brown
Executive Assistant
Zada L. Johnson
Vice President, Publications
Kevin E. Steele
Vice President, Operations
David A. Graham
Advertising Manager
Joan K. Steele
Marketing Director
Ralph Bicknell
Production Director
Cynthia E.D. Kite
Circulation Director
John Ross Williams
Circulation Specialist
Cherry Chavez
Controller-Business Manager
Robert J. Rolfson
General Manager, SOF Exchange
Robert B. Ogilvie
CHANGE OF ADDRESS/SUBSCRIPTION PROB¬
LEMS: Six weeks notice is required on all changes
of address. Please include current mailing-label
information with aii correspondence. SOLDIER
OF FORTUNE, Subscription Department, P.O.
Box 348, Mt. Morris, IL 61054. Phone: (815) 734-
4151.
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE (ISSN 0145-6784/USPS 120-510) ts published monthly by
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE Magazine, Inc., Boulder, Colorado. Controlled Circulation
Postage Paid at Boulder, CO. POSTMASTER: Semi address changes to SOLDIER OF
FORTUNE, Subscription Department P.O. Box 348, Mt Morris, EL 61054. Subscription
rates for twelve monthly Issues: $26.00 — U.S. A, Canada. Mexico. All other countries,
$33.00. Special domestic and foreign rates on request U.S. FUNDS ONLY. Single-Issue
Price — U.S., $3.00; United Kingdom, 2.40; Canada, $3.50.
CONTRIBUTORS: Manuscripts, photographs, drawings are submitted at the contribu-
Boulder, CO 80306, and cannot be returned unless accompanied by sufficient postage.
Any material accepted is subject to such revision as is necessary to meet the editorial
requirements of SOF. All manuscripts must be typed double-spaced. All photographs
should be credited and be accurately identified. Payment will be made at rates current at
time of publication. NOTICE: SOLDIER OF FORTUNE Magazine is a magazine of
national and international distribution. There may be products for which sale, posses¬
sion or interstate transportation may be restricted, prohibited or subject to special
licensing requirements in your state. Purchasers should consult the local law-
enforcement authorities in their area.
tor's own risk. Material should be mailed to SOLDIER OF FORTUNE. P.O. Box 693,
Copyright © 1985 by SOLDIER OF FORTUNE Magazine, Inc,
Ail Rights Reserved
2 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
SEPTEMBER/1985
VOL. 10 NO. 9
WANTED
Nate Taylor —
National News
Service
The story of a
modern-day bounty
hunter 34
KAISER’S
GRAVEYARD
Bob Michelson
Diving adventure in
Scapa Flow 38
P$Y-OPS
Robert K. Brown
Hind reward raised to
$1,000,000 44
IWO REUNION
Sgt. Hugh Hawthorne,
USMC
Veterans return to the
volcanic rock 46
WATERPROOF
WEAPONRY
Peter G. Kokalis
Testing rustproof
backups in Salvador 48
GURKHA
David Mills
Her Majesty’s Brigade in
Belize 54
CHUCK
KRAMER
Dale A. Dye
Q&A with a master
sniper 60
A TALE OF TWO
BATTLES
Sam Zaffiri
Two viewpoints of the
same war 66
COLD STEEL
Lynn Thompson
One man’s manual for
knife fighting 74
iT-" srm
* ip
mm
t
\ m
COVER: Britain’s empire has shrunk since the Gurkhas
first fought for it. But John Bull still deploys these
tough, disciplined troops. At home in jungles or moun¬
tains, Gurkhas have trained and fought from India to
Washington State and from Monte Cassino to Belize.
This tiny Central American nation — formerly British
Honduras — has been threatened since its Independence
by Guatemala, and Gurkha maneuvers were part of the
British response. Photo: David Mills
Flak 8
Bulletin Board 10
Combat Weaponcraft 14
Adventure Quartermaster 18
Battle Blades 22
I Was There 26
Full Auto 30
In Review 32
Advertisers Index 101
Supply Locker 102
Classified 107
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 3
Now, for the first time in history they are
being honored by the issuance of a special com¬
memorative private-purchase military fight¬
ing knife.
Founder of Special Forces Presents
No. 1 to Special Warfare Museum
This occasion is so important that the founder
of US, Army Special Forces, Colonel Aaron
Bank, USA (Ret.), personally announced this
project, jrresenting Serial No. 1 in this limited
edition to the Special Warfare Museum at Fort
Bragg, home of the Green Berets.
To assure rarity and future value, only 2500
yriO ever be made.
The Special Forces Commemorative Fighting
Knife is a deluxe Ek Commando Knife, Model
No. 4, benchmade in the U-S.A. Ek Commando
knives are the leading private-purchase military
fighting knives in American history, having proven
themselves in combat m World War D, Korea
and Vietnam,
Most Ek Commando Knives were available
only to active-duty military personnel — which
is why they are better known among veterans
than among civilian collectors. This Limited
Edition Series marks the first time a special , pre-
senta bon-grade Ek Commando Fighting Knife
has ever been announced to the general arms -
collecting public.
A Battleworthy Fighting Knife
This is a double-edged, battleworthy fight¬
ing stiletto. It is one of the strongest knives in
the world because it is made with more steel
than any other knife of its type and size — with a
full-length, full-width tang, which extends 24"
beyond the grips to form the distinctive Ek "skull-
crusher" butt.
The unique Ek "handprint" grips are per¬
fectly contoured to fit the thumb and the ball
of the hand, for maximum thrusting power. For
this Commemorative, the grips are shaped from
rugged, jungle green hardwood laminates—
representative of the famous green beret.
24-Karat Gold Plating
A finely detailed A-Team fire fight scene is
deeply etched along the full length of the 6 5 /s f '
blade, which is made of spedal Ek high-carbon
stainless surgical steel. To highlight this pattern,
the etched areas are plated with pure 24-karat
gold. The special forces crest—the badge of
honor of the Green Berets—with their motto, To
Free The Oppressed," are proudly gold etched in
the center. Even the extended butt is elaborately
gold etched with the laurel leaf motif of victory.
Fighting soldiers from the sky f
Fearless men who jump and die v
Men who mean just what they say f
The brave men of the Green Berets .
Put silver wings bn my son's chest.
Make him one of America's best
He'U be a man they 'll test one day
Have him win the Green Beret
by SSGT Barry Sadler
T hey're a spedal breed. Some of the
toughest men in the world. Hand-picked
volunteers. Taught to live off the land —
to eat snakes if that is what it takes to survive to
continue the mission to defend our freedom.
Some call than the world's most professional
E 'Ua fighters. They're right. Spedal weapons,
a! techniques. Spedal braining. Spedal men.
are America's "Green Berets"—U.S. Army
Special Forces.
THE MOST DRAMATIC TRIBUTE EVER CREATED TO HONOR OUR GREEN BERETSA RARE,
LIMITED EDITION EK COMMANDO KNIFE, WITH SELECTIVE 24 -KARAT GOLD PLATING.
Lfoundation presents the
Shown actual size
This special collector's edition
introduces lathe-turned “X"-head
screws to affix the grips. Custom
made of solid brass, these are mirror
polished and heavily plated with
pure 24-karat gold. The crossguard
is thick, mirror polished solid brass,
also plated with 24-karat gold
The limited edition serial number
between 0001 and 2500 is engraved
on the blade shoulder, inscribed on
the accompanying Certificate of
Authenticity and registered with the Foundation
— your further assurance of this strict edition
limit.
First Option; No Obligation
When you reserve the Airborne Commemo¬
rative Fighting Knife, you are also guaranteed
first option, without obligation, to reserve sub¬
sequent knives in 'The American Elite Forces
Fighting Knife Collection" one at a time in the
months ahead. This way you can systematically
acquire a complete set with matching serial num¬
bers on a convenient basis. These knives will
honor U,S. Airborne Forces, U.S. Army Rangers,
US. Navy SEAL/UDT, U.S. Marine Recon and
U.SAF. Air Special Operations. They will be
different models and variants of famous Ek mili¬
tary fighting knives, with different grip materials
and blade combat scenes.
A high-quality Mahogany Display Case
(14" X 5" X iyi fr ) is also available. This solid
mahogany case is easily wall mounted with the
also be made a Member of The Ame¬
rican Historical Foundation and receive
spedal information concerning the
care and collecting of military arms
and advance notice of all Foundation
military projects. This is available ex¬
clusively through the Foundation,
Ek Commando Knives are ex¬
tremely rare, so prompt action is sug¬
gested while these are available.
two brackets provided, and a sliding acryfic glass j reservation 1
fid protects the knife from dust and nnautho- , SaHs fef T T e
nzed handling, 1142 West Grace Street, Dept. A73
Whether or not you or a member of your Richmond, Virginia 23220
family serwd in an elite force unit, your owner- Jl-hour" oll f^e reservations: (soo) 368-8080
ship and display of this kldfe will show your ’ Yes, I wish to reserve each of the following etched and
patriotic pride in our military and in the Americans I 24-karat gold-plated limited edition EUteTorces Com-
who have defended our country in the past and I Knlves:
who stand ready, today, to fight, if called. I |) " hre er,es
j _SpecialForces _Ranger __Airborne
How To Reserve _SEAL/UDT_Marine Recon_AirSpl.Ops.
To place vour reservation, you may call (a D Please also send the Mahogany Display Case, at $24
toll free number is available), use the reservation j “ ' orea n *? reseJ J e * . .
on tins page or personally visit our headquarters. J n
Satisfaction is guaranteed, or return within one per knife...
month for a full refund. There are no shipping D ln ,wo eau *' pay*"®*- □ to fuU.
charges. For an additional $15 we will personal- ’ DN ?v payment in full fa enclosed («95 per knife; dfa-
, ■ i *r l • ij play case, add $24).
ize your knife by engraving your name, rank, and
serial number on the blade reverse. If you wish Name .
Airborne wings etched on the blade reverse, just Address.
add $10. ^ # I
When you place your reservation you will I For Visa, Masteklard or American Express, pleas* send account
number, expiration date and signature- Virginia residents add tax.
• American Soldiers of Fortune is a one time,
special publication by the editors of Soldier of
Fortune Magazine
• American Soldiers of Fortune takes you behind
the scenes for a revealing journey to the world's
hot spots — to the battlegrounds held by
America's Dogs of War!
• American Soldiers of Fortune features
action-packed, true-to-life tales of America's
greatest soldiers for hire. Plus ... a bonus
catalog section filled with the latest tools and
gadgets of the Mercenary trade.
• Don't Miss American Soldiers of Fortune!
At Newsstands Everywhere August 20th
□ Chock or monoy
order enclosed.
D.8. FUND8 ONLY!
Quantity (x S3.SO)
Postage & Handling
3% Sales Tax (Colo. Res.)
Total Amount Enclosed
SI.25
Kame_
Address
City_Slain_Zip_
Overseas orders add S2.00 par copy additional postage. 0.8. Fundi only! Please allow 30 days for
delivery alter print date (B-l-85). Clip coupon and mail to 50F Action Series, P.0. Box B93, Boulder,
CD B030G. Offer expires 12/31/85.
• Don’t Wait — use the coupon opposite and order
your advance copy of American Soldiers of
Fortune today!
FIRST
TO
FIGHT
was undercut by intelligence blunders.
• Why the prison camp was a “dry hole.”
• Who the raiders found at a secret base.
• How the mission actually saved POWs.
Get the truth about The Raid ,. .yours
• free with membership in America’s
, #1 Military Book Club.
A YOURS FREE
J WITH MEMBERSHIP
-CIVIL
WR
EY EWITNES S
HISTORY
OFTHE ^ .
THE US.
ARMED
FORCES
SURVIVAL
MANUAL
111 UU If ft l
IISS HOUSTON
VIETNAM’S
BIGGEST POW SNAFU?
bbuwmhesmmq
A PJCTOBUt WSTORY OF SPOOfCY
By Larry Davti
U-Boat
Commander
A Periscope
View of the Battle
of the Atlantic
Pieter Cremer
0950 $14.95
ADiSIANT
CHALLENGE
THE BATTLE OF THE
Komandorski Islands
. —
|nhn V loR’lli
0927 $16.95
3699 $15.95
INSIDE THE
GREEN BERETS
Tbr Firs* Thirty Itatr*
WITH
MEMBERSHIP
3806 $15.95
PLUS ANY 3 BOOKS FOR 98t
Here’s how the Club Plan works: You'll get 3 books for only 98? plus shipping and handling and your FREE BOOK and
VIETNAM MAP—when accepted as a member. We reserve the right to reject any application. However, once accepted
if you are not completely satisfied with your introductory books, return them within 10 days at our ex¬
pense. Your membership will be cancelled and you will owe nothing. The FREE BOOK and MAP are
yours to keep in any case.
Huge selection: As a Club member, you’ll have over 350 titles to choose from—a tremendous variety
of the very best military books in print. Many feature rarely seen photos, illustrations and maps. Many
books are difficult to find anywhere else.
How you save money: The Club offers its own complete hardbound editions (sometimes altered in
size to fit special presses). Club editions save you up to 30% off publishers’ hardcover edition
prices quoted above. A shipping and handling charge is added to each shipment.
Club magazine: About every 4 weeks (14 times a year) you receive the free Club magazine describing
coming Selection(s) and Alternates. In addition, up to 4 times a year, you may receive offers of special
Selections, always at discounts off publishers’ prices. If you want the featured Selection(s), do nothing
—shipment will be made automatically. If you prefer an Alternate—or no book at all—indicate this on
the order form and return it by the date specified. You’ll have at feast 10 days to decide. If you have less
than 10 days, and you receive an unwanted Selection, you may return it at our expense and owe
nothing.
The choice is always yours: Your only obligation is to take just 4 books at regular low Club prices dur¬
ing the next 2 years. You may resign any time after purchasing your 4 books, or continue to enjoy Club
membership for as long as you like.
PLUS
FULL COLOR
19"x 25'
VIETNAM MAP
FREE
with membership
[Military Book Club®
-207, i
Soft cower * Explicit sex, violence and/or language.
Dept. AS-207, Garden City, NY 11530
Yes, please accept my membership application and send me the 3 books
marked in the boxes below, plus my FREE BOOK and VIETNAM MAP. Bill me
only 98c plus shipping and handling for the 3 books. I agree to the Club plan
presented in this ad, and understand that I need buy just 4 more books at
regular low Club prices any time I want during the next 2 years.
No-rlsk guarantee: If not delighted after examining my 3 selections, i
may return the books within 10 days at Club expense. My membership will
be cancelled and I will owe nothing. No matter what I decide, I may keep my
FREE BOOK and MAP.
Free book
*4879
Note: II you
FREE
Mr
Mrs._
Ms.
Address _
own 77ie Raid , please choose anotherhtle for your
(please print)
_ Apt. No.
_ State .
Members accepted in U.S.A. and Canada only. Canadian members serviced
.. 52-M032
L Members accepted in U.S.A. and Canada
from Canada where otter is slightly different.'
t
32 [
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 7
P OSTAL
SERVICE...
Sirs:
We just received the
July issue on our little
rock here off the Pacific
Northwest coast You
made a boo-boo
(FLAK, “Subscribers
Take Note,” SOF, July
’85.) The U.S. Postal
Service now forwards
magazines for free.
Everyone should know
about this first real sign
of customer service.
Even though we live on
a small island we at
times are aware of
things sooner than
big-city folks.
Mr. and Mrs.
Peter Wangoe
Friday Harbor,
Wash.
We goofed With the
change in postal
regulations (and yet
another increase in the
cost of services) that
went into effect in
February, your post
office will now forward
free of charge for 60
days all second-class
mail such as magazines ,
provided the proper
change-of-address form
is filed. SOF Circulation
Specialist Cherry
Chavez noted that for
an additional cost
subscribers can have
their magazines
delivered via first-class
mail , guaranteeing free
forwarding by the post
office for up to 18
months after a move.
Ms. Chavez emphasized
that it still takes the
Subscription Department
at least six weeks for a
change of address to
take effect If a
subscriber is moving,
please send your new
address and a mailing
label from a recent copy
of SOF to: Soldier of
Fortune, Subscription
Department, P.O. Box
348 , Mt. Morris, IL
61054. Phone: (815)
734-4151.
B ad
bill...
Sirs:
Some SOF readers may not be aware of perhaps
the most insidious bill in Congress, the one targeting
our private funding of Freedom Fighters in Central
America. U.S. Reps. Mel Levine (D-Calif.) and Jim
Leach (R-Iowa) have introduced a bill making it a
criminal offense for private U.S. citizens to
contribute any aid to freedom fighters and/or their
refugee families ... dollars, goods, or services. No
medicine. No food. No nada. The bill introduced by
Levine and Leach calls for penalties of up to three
years in prison, a fine up to $250,000, or both. Fm
going to pick on Leach because he’s the
Republican. He is a House fifth-termer representing
the first district, the area around Davenport.
President Reagan cites the 11th Commandment:
Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.
Leach makes the strongest case yet for rescinding
that rule. For one thing, he sponsored the Nuclear
Weapons Freeze Resolution in the 98th Congress.
As for the good Republicans of Davenport, they’d
better check their water supply. Something is
making them terminally stupid.
Robert G. Wheaton
San Antonio, Tex.
SOF was aware of this proposed legislation before
these two Bozos announced it at a gala press
conference. House bill number 1569 has been
referred to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on
Civil and Constitutional Rights, but a hearing had
not been scheduled as this issue went to press in
June. We urge readers to let their elected
representatives know how they feel about this
ridiculous idea. Write your congressional
representative, c/o U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.
20515.
C ANADIANS
WRITE ON M16/C7...
Sirs:
May I inform your readers of the
latest developments on the M16A2
being adopted by the Canadian
Armed Forces (See “Canuck
M16A3,” Bulletin Board, SOF, April
’85). The designation for the new
rifle is C7. It is being issued to
combat units this year. It replaces
the FN-C1 rifle, which was issued in
1958 to replace the Lee Enfield Mil
No. 4 Cl rifle, and also replaces the
Sterling Cl submachine gun. The
C2 version (LAR) will also be
phased out by the new Squad
(SAW) FN-LMG. The change for
combat units will be complete by
1987.
Lieutenant W.B. Pitcairn
Regional Cadet Staff —
Atlantic
Canadian Armed Forces,
Nova Scotia
Thanks to a number of Canadian
readers for keeping us current. We
have learned that Canada's $231
million project is going full-bore on
production of almost 80,000 C7s,
1,500 C8 carbines for tank and APC
crews and 6,750 C9 light machine
guns. The prime contractor,
Diemaco, Inc. of Kitchener, Ontario,
has made modifications of the
M16A2 under license from Colt
Industries to produce the C7 and
C8. The FN Minimi machine gun
has been modified to become the
Canadian C9. Les Industries
Valcartier, Inc. of Valcartier, Quebec,
will make the 5.56mm ammo used
by all three weapons. The C7 and
C8 will retain the full-auto selector
replaced in the M16A2 by a
three-shot-burst mode. Although a
scope will be used, the Canadian
versions will retain iron sights. Nylon
magazines will be used instead of
aluminum models used in the United
States.
Continued on page 96
8 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
llCMLM-4r
' WORLD S FINEST MILITARY EQUIPMENT
1375 N. WILSON ROAD RADCLIFF , KENTUCKY 40160
JUNGLE HAMMOCK-GENUINE ISSUE
If you want the real Vietnam Jungle Hammock
then you have found It. We discovered and
purchased this group of unissued and authentic
hammocks. They are strong and ready for service
even after 13 years. Supplies are limited and this
is the last batch of these rare hammocks.
SF13-1037.$99.95
MILITARY
MAP TEMPLATE
Provides U.S. and NATO
military symbols along
with a protractor for
reading of Intersections
and resections on military
maps. Convenient
1:50,000 grid aids In
reading and estimating six
and eight digit coor¬
dinates. Includes handy
scales for inches and
millimeters. Flexible
plastic for maximum
durability. Fits easily in the Army BDU and
USMC utility shirt pockets.
SF05-1331.$9.97
GERMAN STYLE MAP CASE
Developed by U.S. Troops while on field duty in
Germany. Clear, pliable acetate with a full length
zipper. 24x34”. Olive drab binding.
SF07-1142.$12.95
MEAL
MRE'S (MEAL, READY TO EAT)
Taste the newest official military rations; MRE!
Flavorful meal pack includes a meat entree,
cracker pack, cheese spread, mixed fruit,
beverage powder, spoon, coffee, cream substitute,
sugar, candy, salt,
matches and toilet tissue.
Contents vary slightly with
different entrees. Each
meal is packaged in a
sealed plastic envelope.
Case of 12 meals.
$69.95
DRILL INSTRUCTOR
BULLDOG
You can't defeat his steely-
eyed stare. Obviously he
means business and you
must obey every command he
would “bark” out, if only he
could. Soft plush with
U.S.M.C. red shirt. Brown
felt hat with chin strap. 18”.
SF07-2791.. $29.95
c; emutr-^
WORLD S FINEST MILITARY EQUIPMENT
1375 NORTH WILSON ROAD
RADCLIFF, KY 40160
PHONE (502)351-1164
NUMBER DESCRIPTION /SIZE/ COLOR PRICE
G. GORDEN LIDDY POSTER
A coy smile greets you as you unroll this beautiful
full color poster of one of today's most contro¬
versial figures. Mr. Liddy is dressed in a business
suit and appears to be ready to give the viewer
the business end of an UZI. Autograph printed
across lower portion of poster. 17x22”.
SF07-2235....$7.50
EXPLORER SURVIVAL KNIFE
For men who must live off the land and cope with
any situation. 5 Vi” black blade of440C Stainless
steel. Blade is complete with saw, barbed wire
cutter, clinometer and distress code. Knuckle
guard on the handle. Endcap, which can be used
as a hammer, also encloses a compass and hollow
handle filled With survival necessities, including
the morse code. Scabbard has hidden sharpening
stone and screwdriver. Virtually indestructible.
SF07-2059 .$149.95
GENUINE ISSUE MILITARY COT
This is the sophisticated new military
cot. The bed is made of fully taped and
reinforced olive drab nylon. The frame
is extruded aluminum with smooth
nylon end-caps. Don't confuse this cot
with surplus cots of the past made of
wood that rots or canvas that rots.
NSN 7105-00-935-0422. 78x30x17”.
Folds to 37x9x4”. Genuine
SF05-0989.
SMMAYtm CfflWSU8SCMM
□ VISA □ I
MASTERCARD Q exp.
CHEDIT
CARD NO.
E
XP. DATE
I
SUBTOTAL
SHIPPING.
HANDLING,
INSURANCE
KENTUCKY
RESIDENTS
ADD 5% TAX
NIGHT WATCH
Intruder detection system designed to alert you
when someone has entered your area, campsight,
home or farm. Once a tripwire perimeter has been
established, you can relax. Comes complete with
system black box, 8,000 feet of ultra-thin wire and
earphone (used If you don’t want the audible
alarm). Two circuits 3x4xl 1 /i”. 7 ounces.
SF05-1339.$79.95
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 9
S OF INVADES
ZIMBABWE!!!...
John Coleman, a
Rhodesian veteran and
occasional SOF
contributing writer, has
helped lead an invasion
of Zimbabwe, according
to the Sunday Mail in
Harare. Imagine how
surprised we were at the
magazine when we
called his home in
California to get
confirmation and he
answered the phone.
Laughing at the bogus
report, Coleman
allowed that removing
the present oppressive
regime in Zimbabwe is a
good idea, but said he’s
too busy finishing
college and doesn’t
have time to help.
By the time the rumor
hit the press in South
Africa, it typically had
grown in proportion. It
was reported that the
Soldier of Fortune
Association (whoever
the hell they are) was
helping destabilize the
Workers’ Paradise. We
beg all SOF readers to
let us know the
outcome, since it is the
first that SOF or
Coleman have heard of
the mission.
U GANDAN
EMPLOYMENT...
Over a year ago we
got several calls from
readers who had been
offered jobs in Uganda
and wanted to know a
little about what it’s like
to live there. The vets
told us they’d been
recruited as engineers
through the Ugandan
Embassy but had not
been assigned specific
tasks. We told them
what we know about
the place and asked that
they get back in touch
with us when they
returned CONUS. SOF
is still interested in any
stories or tales you guys
have to tell. Give us a
call.
BULLETIN
BOARD
GEL..HQWD1D
THAT HAPPEN?
S ALVO
INFO...
The U.S. Embassy in San Salvador has confirmed
that a U.S. citizen working under private contract for
the Salvadoran Air Force assisted government
troops in the capture of a senior-level communist
guerrilla commander, Miss Nadia Diaz. The
private-sector military trainer, who had been
instructing Salvadoran helicopter pilots on the use of
night-vision devices, was invited to go on the
mission by an officer with whom he is acquainted.
The daylight raid resulted in the wounding and
capture of Miss Diaz. The man, who was armed and
wearing military clothing, reportedly restrained Miss
Diaz when she tried to kill herself by jumping out of
the helicopter after her capture. She is a
commander in the Central American Revolutionary
Workers’ Party, one of five Marxist factions in the
Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front
(FMNLF).
Although Miss Diaz remained tight-lipped, another
communist guerrilla leader — this one turned
himself in to the El Salvadoran government — shed
light on something President Reagan has been
saying all along. Napoleon Romero confirmed in a
news conference that communist insurgents, seeking
to overthrow El Salvador’s democratically elected
government, receive more than 70 percent of their
arms, ammunition and explosives in secret
shipments from Nicaragua’s Marxist regime. The
remainder, he said, is bought by the rebels on the
black market and stripped from the bodies of dead
government troops. United States and Salvadoran
officials long have claimed that the communist
rebels get most of their war goods from Nicaragua,
but no actual shipments have been intercepted.
Romero said that some of the shipments come in
small boats from Chinandega Province, Nicaragua,
across the Gulf of Fonseca, and are brought ashore
near Jiquilisco Bay in Usultan Province, El Salvador.
N O MORE TEACHERS*
DIRTY LOOKS...
Nicaraguan parents are not happy
with the brand of education brought
to Nicaragua by the communist
regime of the Sandinista National
Liberation Front. The Union of
Parents of Christian Families has
publicly denounced their
government for “meddling” in
education by using textbooks that
focus on Marxist-Leninist theory.
UPCF President Sofonias Cisneros
complained that “our families have
been replaced by the state. In
democratic countries, the father
takes charge of his child’s education.
Here and in other communist
nations , the state has taken that
right.” Her remarks were quoted in
La Prensa, a daily published in
Managua which is said to be least
subject to government censorship.
Here are some literal textbook
examples of the complaint. A
geography book describes a
mountain range as “where
Commander Carlos Fonseca, a
founder of the Sandinista Front, died
fighting at the hands of the National
Guard.” A grammar textbook
illustrates proper sentence structure
with this jewel: “One has to fight to
win victory under the direction of
our organization, the FSLN.” While
U.S. kids learning simple math count
brightly colored piles of apples and
oranges, children in Nicaragua’s
school system count piles of rifles
and grenades. It’s good practice for
a life under communist tyranny. Of
course, recommended reading
includes “Das Kapital” by Karl
Marx, “Marx and Engels” by Lenin
and many works by Cuban authors.
But how could “Huckleberry Finn”
or “Treasure Island” ever compete
with light reading like “Technological
Colonialism and the Imperalist Fight
in Latin America”?
Too bad House Speaker Thomas
P. “Tip Your Hat to the Commies”
O’Neill and other deluded liberals in
Congress can’t go to school in
Nicaragua. Then they’d get a real
education.
C ALLING ALL
COLLECTORS...
SOF must procure test samples of
Soviet BS-41 14.5mm ammunition.
If you are willing to sell the
tungsten-carbide-type ammo, please
write SOF, P.O. Box 693, Boulder,
CO 80306, ATTN: Peter G. Kokalis.
Include name, address, phone,
number of rounds and price.
10 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
ffv M jBt “Pineapple’’
H Hand
Grenade.
Kfe: : : il Thie Oracle is completely
MQBHP inert and harmless, but looks
tike the real thing. Comes with
detachable firing lever
Order No. 1721 GO 56.95
| 8-Shot Tear Gas Revolver. Fires 8-.22
l caliber tear gas or blanks in seconds.
No, 260110 Blue Gale $8.95
No. 260120 Chrome £Lft0fTSale $9-95
J .22 Caliber Tear Gas Automatic, Fires
6-.22 caliber tear gas or blanks as fast
as you can pull the trigger.
No 260510 Blue Sale 5 9 95
r No. 260520 Chrome 54-kSff Sale $10,95
*":22 Cal. Tear Gas Cartridges (10}
Order No. 260202 52.95
.22 Cal. Extra-Loud Blanks. {100}
Order No. 260204 Sale $£95
K The Bionic Ear. Extremely sensitive
pointabie. electronic listening device
the size of a flashlight. Amplifies sounds
and passes 1 hem on to the user through
stereo headphones which are included.
Warning: this device is not intended as an
eavesdropping device. Used extensively
by hunters, bird watchers, security and
law enforcement personnel. It can hear a
whisper at 100 yds., feet scuffling in a
warehouse at 200 ft., a car door shutting
at 5 blocks and a coon dog on the trail
up to 2 miles away. Uses 9 volt battery.
Order No. 310300 569,95
G U.S.A.F. L-2B Flight Jacket. Official Ajfc
Force Lightzone (Lightweight issue}. *
rvjhioru Sage Green with International Orange
por hast u ®V veTy lining 100% polyester with knit collar, cuffs
Credit Card Orders and wa istband. Two inner and two outer
Mastercard and Visa only pockets plus zipper cigarette pocket on
I I mi I CDCC left sleeve. Sizes: S, M. L. XL.
LL. IULL met Order No.012900 5^05 Sale 534.95
D Pachmayr Stain¬
less Steel ,45
Magazine. The most
precisely manufac¬
tured, fastest action
clip you’ll ever own.
Has custom rounded
follower and comes
with combat bumper.
No. 19^110 519.95
V IVi ill h male iJtf Your Afl-7 Wtrwl
W MJLchell AR-5D Accessory Package
Black sruci? ase nylon plslol gup and
nickel-piafod telescoping buttstock
Lncksoptn ares closed Compaq-26"
overall when dGStfC. Regular sire open
Unique desio n 9 - T| p will house original IQ
round rmqniine Ventilated fcnfreJtWL
50%Ot barrel and allows cOflll nut>U& shoot'
mq r^uwlEh hot barrel Thin accessor re¬
duces ove rail wdiqhTbyaporox i .‘2 pound
Order No. 2420QD 569 55
Afl-7 50-rd. Mitchell Drum Magazine.
Designed for easy loading, reliable func¬
tioning and durability. Full 50 round
capacity. Markings on the back keep you
informed of the rounds.
Order No, 193300 529.95
Mitchell 5<Hd. Mag. for 10/22 Rifle,
Order No. 193000 529.95
Browning Hi-Power 9mm Magazine 13 shot.
Order No. 131620 515.00
AR-tS/M-16.30-shot Magazine,
Order No. 191220 $7.95
M-1 Carbine. 30-shot Magazine Blue Steel.
Order No. 190420 $ 5.00
Uzi 9mm, 32-shot Magazine,
Order No. 192620 $14,95
New PareHex* Magazines.
20-shot Blue Magazine for MinM4*.
Order No. 190720 5 9.95
30-shot Bine Magazine for Mini-14*.
Order No. 190820 512.95
40-shot Blue Magazine for Mini-14*
Order No. 191020 $24,95
20-shot Stainless Magazine for Mtnr-14*.
Order No. 220600 $14.95
30-shot Stainless Magazine for Mini-14T
Order No. 220601 $24.95
40-shot Stainless Magazine for Mim-14*.
Order No. 220602 S29.9S
I Folding Trench Knife. The 3stainless
L. steel blade folds conveniently into the
unique knuckle handle for protection and
safety. The 5" steel handle has a decora¬
tive inset. Length open—8%>".
Order No. 172010 Sale $9.95
M Ufekmfe Commando. The best survival
knife there is at any price. Razor-sharp
6" blade constructed from 440C stainless *
steel heat treated to RH57-58. Aircraft
aluminum hollow handle is waterproof.
Contains N.A.T.O. wire saw, lifeboat
matches, survival fish hooks, assorted split
shot, 20 ft. of 10 lb. test line, 6 ft. snare
utility wire; needles; sutures; water purifi¬
cation tablets. Black feather belt sheath,
thongs and sharpening stone. Jeweled
compass built into the cap. 12" overall.
Order No. 1722.80 Sale $44.95
Ordering information! To order &y mail, use coupon
or separate sheet. Mai! payment or Credit card
information. For questions or information call
1-312-766-1150. To order tiy phone use
Mastercard or Visa. Call 1-800-323-3233.
B G.L M-65 Field Jacket. The latest U.S.
Army issue field jacket made of 50%
nylon and 50% cotton with Quarpel water
repeilency. Features a zip-in hood, heavy-
duty front zipper plus snap closures, draw¬
strings at the waist and bottom of the jacket.
Extra room in the shoulders for complete
freedom of movement. Sizes: S, M. L, XL.
O.D. Green
Order No. 0107G0 Sale 539.95
Woodland Camo.
Order No. 0107W0 Sate 539.95
E Six Pocket Bush Short A popular style
for campers and hikers. Made of the
tough, durable material you find in regular
fatigues with triple needle side and yoke
seams. In front there's two flapped, patch
pockets and 2 slash pockets, in back there
are 2 patch pockets with flaps. Sizes; 24-46.
Order No 3404G0 O.D, Green $15.95
Order No. 3404KO Khaki $15.95
Order No. 3404 CO Camouflage $15.95
F tittle Black Box. WARNING: this device
is not to be used for surveillance! Auto¬
matically starts recorder when telephone
is picked up. Records entire conversation
on both sides. Automatically stops re¬
corder when phone is hung up! It can be
attached anywhere along the line. Plugs
into ANY recorder. Causes absolutely
no interference or noise on the phone.
MINIATURE! 2" x 2" X %'L
Alligator clip hook-up
Order No. 310101 $29^5 Sale $24.95
Modular plug-in hook-up
Order No. 310102 Sale $24.95
Dept. 421 1285 MARK STREET
BENSENVIILE, IL 60106
lESCRlPTION/SIZE/COLOR PRICE
NUMBER
C Minl-14 Pouch
Set. G.L nylon mag.
pouch with 3-30
rd. clips for the Mini-14.
No. M14S 539.95
AR-15/M-16 Pouch
Set. Same as above.
No. M16S 524.95
CATALOG $1.00
FREE WITH ORDER □ SEND CATALOG
□ CHECK ENCLOSED □ MONEY ORDER
CHARGE MY: □ MASTERCARD □ VISA
SUfi TOTAL
SHIPPING/
HANDLING
The Black Book Of Dirty Tricks. "Impro¬
vised Munitions Handbook" is the most
sought after (until now impossible to
obtain] Army Manual. Includes chapters
on: Mines & Grenades, Small Arms
Weapons & Ammo, Mortars & Rockets,
Incendiary Devices, Fuses, Ignition &
Delay Mechanisms. Plus how to manufac¬
ture Rocket Launchers, Pistols, Shotguns,
and Recoilless Rifles from easy to obtain
materials. And much more! New expanded
edition! Limited number available!
ORDER NOW! Order No. BB 510.00
TOTAL
ADDRESS
M ercs in
LATIN
LAND?...
As the FDN waxes
and unreformed ARDE
wanes, names and faces
are changing in the war
for a free Nicaragua.
According to Dr. John
of Caribbean Basin
Security Consultants
(Dept. SOF, 147 W.
42nd St., Suite 603,
New York, NY 10036)
Eden Pastora’s forces
are in disarray and his
influence has almost
disappeared from the
Free Nicaraguan forces.
The author of “An
American in ARDE”
(SOF, Nov. ’84) reports
that Pastora’s few
remaining backers are
selling AKs for food and
medicine. A backer of
Fernando “El Negro”
Chamorro, Dr. John
denies the current
Miami rumors that he’s
recruiting a
CIA-financed mercenary
force.
P LOT
SICKENS...
Word in South
African military circles is
that somebody is
looking for up to 1,200
mercenaries for a little
R&R in Mozambique.
So far, the pros are
disparaging the op,
saying that a half-dozen
men and a few hundred
pounds of C-4 could do
a number on FRELIMO
attempts to build a
viable economy in the
Marxist African state.
But the planned force is
too big to move without
detection, too big to
supply discreetly, and
too big to be recruited
selectively.
And if the organizers
think the South African
government won’t step
in if things get out of
hand they should
remember the sentences
for the members of the
Seychelles coup team.
R hodie reunion
FEATURES SMITH...
Former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian
Douglas Smith will be an honored guest this
fall at the Rhodesian Veteran’s Association
Reunion. The RVA is soliciting contributions
to help defray expenses for Smith’s trip to
Lake Tahoe, Calif., from his home in
Zimbabwe, according to RVA representative
John Lukman, who met with Smith in
November at the latter’s home. The reunion
is scheduled for Oct. 18-20. Those interested
in attending should call Tim Carmody at
(415)564-0261 or John Coleman at
(818)782-9413 for more information. Or
write: Rhodesian Veteran’s Association, Dept.
SOF, 2022 Taraval St/Suite 600, San
Francisco, Calif. 94116.
B lack, white
& RED ALL OVER...
Soldier of Fortune continues a growing
tradition by making fine editorial fodder for
communist publications the world over.
Russia’s Communist Party newspaper,
Izvestia, fired their latest volley of ink by
labeling the magazine as “an unofficial body
of hired murderers ... doing business on
blood.” In attacking Publisher Robert K.
Brown for his decision to reprint and
distribute the CIA manual on guerrilla warfare
to Freedom Fighters in Central America,
Izvestia claimed that “he secretly placed an
order with a printing house in Spain for 500
copies of the manual.” We went down and
asked our friendly job printer, Al, if he’d
opened another shop we hadn’t heard about.
Al laughed when he read a copy of the
Izvestia fiction, said he’d sure like to expand;
but no, he hasn’t opened any print shops in
Spain.
S OF CONVENTION
IN MANAGUA?...
If the Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters have taken
Managua by the end of the SOF Convention, SOF
will pick up the cost of a three-day round trip from
Las Vegas, Nevada, to Managua and back for all
SOF conventioneers. R.K. Brown says, “You won’t
have to worry about getting your cammies through
customs.”
FILTERS
Made in U.S.A.
Afghan Government Monopoly
20 'CLASS A CIGARETTES
Russian soldiers in Afghanistan
enjoy U.S. products such as
cigarettes unavailable to
Freedom Fighters.
M ost
FAVORED NATION?...
“I’d walk a mile for a commie.”
To comfort or kill him? We’re not
sure which. But that is the
impression we get from the U.S.
government’s baffling habit of saying
one thing and doing another in
foreign policy. Afghanistan is a prime
example.
Congress has spent $400 million
since the Soviet invasion of
December 1979 to help the Afghan
Freedom Fighters overthrow the
unpopular communist military
regime. Yet that regime still enjoys
international trading status as a
“most favored nation” of U.S.
commerce. This agreement bestows
upon Afghanistan’s illegitimate,
Soviet-imposed government
preferential exemptions to many
U.S. tariffs and port taxes. And these
exemptions go far beyond such
“essential” goods as automotive and
aircraft parts, computers and
petroleum products.
Millions of dollars worth of U.S.
cigarettes — considered a status
symbol in most of the Eastern
Hemisphere — are enjoyed by
Soviet soldiers who kill the same
Holy Warriors we support with our
tax dollars. An alert SOF reader
intercepted a pack of L&M cigarettes
marked for delivery to the
communist government of
Continued on page 98
12 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
The Ultimate Survival Knife/Kit
This deluxe survival knife is the perfect companion
for hunters, fishermen, campers and just to have
around the house.
Quality features include 6” razor sharp blade,
waterproof 4 V 2 ” aluminum hollow handle, (avail¬
able in camouflage or black) with liquid filled com¬
pass, leather sheath with sharpening stone.
Survival Kit includes IO matches, 20” wire saw,
fishhooks, sinkers nylon line for fishing, sewing,
2 large sewing needles can be used for medical
use and to form a spear for hunting and fishing.
S
*
HOW TO ORDER INFORMATION:
TO ORDER BY MAIL, USE COUPON OR SEPARATE SHEET.
MAIL PAYMENT OR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION WITH
EXPIRATION DATE, CARD NUMBER AND SIGNATURE.
SATISFACTION GUARANTEED
or your money back.
KnifeCO P.O. Box 5271, Hialeah Lakes, FL 33014
Please send me=
□ 1 Survival Knife @ $19.95 plus $3.00 lor shipping 8c handling
□ 2 Survival Knives @ $38.00 plus $3.00 for shipping 8c handling.
Specify:
□ Camouflage handle with green sheath 8c black coated blade.
□ Black handle with black sheath 8c stainless blade.
Florida Resident add 5% sales tax.
Catalog only $2,00 □ Free with order
□ Check enclosed □ Money Order
Charge my □ MasterCard DVisa
Credit Card No.
Expiration Date
Authorized Signature
Name__
Address
Kmfeco po
, Box 5271, Hialeah Lakes, FL 33014
Ciiy
State
ONLY $19.” EACH
SPECIAL$38” FOR TWO
COMBAT
WEAPONCRAFT
by Jack Thompson
Reach Out and Touch Someone
*
J
»• . t
Sniper. The word even sounds
deadly.
It should. A sniper is more than your
best infantryman. He should be smart¬
er, better trained, a more accurate
marksman, better disciplined and
more proficient in fieldcraft than any
other man in his unit. An infantryman
has many coequal responsibilities, but
a sniper’s talent and training are honed
to one fine, polished point: killing one
man with one bullet.
The sniper has other missions, of
course. He trains, he observes, he
probes and he reports. But his real job
is to hit high-priority targets. And what
is the one tool that distinguishes the
precision combat shooter and helps
him hit his targets? The telescopic
sight.
Unless some grunt has picked up a
war trophy, if you see an enemy with a
scoped rifle, binoculars or spotting
scope, land-nav equipment and a pis¬
tol, that’s a sniper. (Shoot him, if
you’re a sniper!) Those are the tools of
his trade. But that scope is the give¬
away because his job is to apply pre¬
cise fire to selected targets.
The telescopic sight can appear on
one of three different types of rifle.
Sniper systems come in weights: light,
medium and heavy. Short-range (bat¬
tlefield) snipers use the light system.
Long-range snipers use medium or
heavy systems.
Short-range systems weigh between
six and eight pounds and consist of the
issue infantry rifle for that unit and a
low-power telescopic sight. The Colt
3x and rubber-armored Beeman 2.5x
SS-1 scopes (Beeman Precision Arms,
Dept. SOF, 47-R Paul Drive, San
Rafael, CA 94903) are ideal on an
Ml6. The lightweight system enables a
battlefield sniper — protected from
identification and location by his unit’s
fire — to address multiple important
targets with quick, accurate, effective
fire. Priority targets are usually hard to
pick on the modern battlefield, but
they are there: officers, NCOs, radio¬
men, heavy weapons crews and — of
course — other snipers.
The light system gives the sniper ac¬
cess to targets between 300 and 400
meters. His weapon is easily capable of
three minutes of angle (MOA) accura¬
cy, and that translates into a nine-inch
group at 300 yards. That means he can
count on a body hit at 400 to 500
yards, the first shot in the torso kill-
zone at 300, and a head-shot on a
stationary target within 200 yards.
Medium systems increase range, but
cut mobility and increase the likelihood
that the sniper will be identified by his
unusual equipment. Medium systems
weigh between eight and ten pounds.
They are characterized by more
powerful (four- to six-power or even
WELL-TRAVELED
Jack Thompson’s military career
has touched the U.S., Central
America, Africa and Southeast
Asia. He has been a D.I., a civilian
weapons trainer, a bodyguard, a
private security adviser, an expert
witness in weapons-related trials
and — of course—an in fantryma n.
variable-power) scopes of at least two
MOA accuracy. Most medium sniper
rifles will be the heavier caliber military
weapons of a couple of decades ago,
the G3, FN-FAL, dressed-up M14
(designated M21) and the various
medium-barreled bolt-actions such as
the British L42A1, and U.S. Ruger
M77 and Remington M700.
Medium-weight sniper systems
allow precise fire out to 600 meters.
Heavier weapons reduce shake and
barrel whip, and more powerful optics
allow target identification. Two MOA
accuracy translates into head shots out
to 300 meters, torso kill-zone shots at
500 and easy torso hits at 600 meters.
Logically, longer distances require a
heavier bullet propelled by a more
powerful charge. The classic military
cartridges from the beginning of the
twentieth century are perfect for this
purpose: .303 British, 7.92 Mauser,
.30-06 and 7.62 Russian Rimmed.
The latter-day, ball-powder descen¬
dant of the .30-06 — 7.62 NATO —
fits well into this role.
Heavyweight systems are a true spe-
Salvadoran Airborne Bn. sniper has
the basic tools of his trade.
Lightweight system incorporates
Colt scope and camouflaged M16.
Photo: Jack Thompson
cialist’s tool, since they apply precise
fire to man-sized targets out to 1,000
meters. Characterized by heavy bar¬
rels, hand-tuned bolt actions, set trig¬
gers and powerful auto-ranging optics,
heavy rifles start at 10 pounds, may
weigh over 20, and are capable of at
least one MOA accuracy. )
Preferably, these bruisers are cham¬
bered in non-military calibers like 7mm
Magnum or .338 Magnum. Long-
range punch is what you want. Killing
power is so important in these special¬
ized applications that sniping systems
are known in .50-caliber Browning
and 20mm.
At, say, half a minute accuracy,
amazing shots become commonplace.
Head hits are theoretically possible at
the upper limits of the heavy rifle’s
range. But as most of you know, at
ranges over 600 meters, hits and miss¬
es become a function of gauging
range, judging light and compensating
for wind. Sniping in this class is more of
an art than a technology, whatever
hardware you carry.
No matter what the hardware, what
really makes a sniper is the man and his
training. He must observe, shoot, con¬
ceal himself, know where he is, move
and report what he sees. Without such
skills and discipline the sniper is just a
mighty lonely casualty. ^
14 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
NEW MILITARY BOOKS FROM PRESIDIO PRESS
THE EASTER OFFENSIVE
Vietnam, 1972
Col. G.H. Turley, USMC (Ret.)
On March 30, 1972 the North Vietnamese
Army launched a devastating attack on
the South. The surprise and un-
precendented savagery of this attack left
the southern forces in a shambles. All
that stood between the NVA and the dis¬
integration of ARVN was a handful of
American advisors. This is their story.
$18.95, ISBN: 0-89141-231-X, cloth,
6x9, photos, maps, 376 pages
BEFORE THE BATTLE
A Commonsense Guide to
Leadership and Management
Lt. Gen. Edward M. Flanagan, Jr.
USA (Ret.)
From A to W, Administration to Wives,
“Fly” Flanagan provides you with a
no-nonsense, results-oriented, topical guide
to leadership and management.
$10.95, ISBN: 0-89141-210-7, paper,
5 3 /4 x 8 V 4 , lllus. and photos, 240 pages
RED ARMY ORDER OF BATTLE
In the Great Patriotic War
Robert G. Poirier and
Albert Z. Conner
A comprehensive compilation of Russian
military unit information which provides
data from 1919 to postwar years.
$22.50, ISBN: 0-89141-237-9, cloth,
6x9, 352 pages
VIETNAM, 1172
Col. G.H. Turley ilSMCR (Ret.)
THE LAST AMERICAN ADVISORS
PLATOON LEADER
James R. McDonough
/ have long waited for someone to do for
the platoon leader what I tried 38 years
ago to do for the company commander.
Now James McDonough has not only
done it; he has done it in a way that cam
not be beat. It will become a classic.
Charles B. MacDonald
Author of Company Commander
An insightful and reflective look at a
young combat officer and his transforma¬
tion from a green, wide-eyed newcomer to
a seasoned combat veteran and leader. A
gripping and action-filled story of combat
$15.95, ISBN: 0-89141-235-2, cloth, 6x9,
1 map, 200 pages
THE
RED ARMY
ORDiH. BATTLE:
title
Great Pitriitic War
THE RISE AND FALL OF
AN AMERICAN ARMY
U.S. Ground Forces,
Vietnam: 1965-1973
Shelby L. Stanton
Introduction by Harry Summers
The first complete account of the U.S.
military ground operations in the Vietnam
War. All major operations and significant
battles are described vividly and the im¬
pact of each assessed. War strategies,
campaign plans, battlefield tactic and
combat performance of Army and Marine
Corps units are all included.
$22.50, ISBN: 0-89141-232-8, cloth, 6x9,
54 photos, 10 maps, 448 pages
The Rise and Fall
of an
American Army
1.5 Ground Forces in Vietnam. 1905-1973
Shells I St a m on
THE SOUTH AFRICAN
WAR MACHINE
Helmoed-Roemer Heitman
Even for many defense experts the South
African military is an enigma. Heitman's
book blasts away this shroud of secrecy
and opens up the most powerful military
force in Africa to the scrutiny of all
readers.
$20.00, ISBN: 0-89141-240-9,
cloth, 9x12, 250 Ulus., maps,
192 pages
Order from Presidio Press, P.O. Box 1764SF7, Novato, CA 94948 — (415) 883-1373.
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 15
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE survives — and gets better — because our subscribers give us the support to
continue our 10-year crusade against worldwide communism and our struggle to alert Americans to
our need for a strong national defense.
• SOF subscribers know they are strong planks in our platform supporting the cause of freedom
worldwide.
• SOF subscribers know their subscriptions are votes of confidence in all the things we stand for.
• SOF subscribers know they share a sound set of principles with all fellow subscribers:
An SOF subscriber is anti-communist, pro-military and pro-veteran.
An SOF subscriber respects, encourages and supports our local law enforcement agencies.
An SOF subscriber is commited to the individual American’s right to keep and bear arms.
In short, an SOF subscriber stands four-square behind traditional American values and a point of view that
proclaims—loud and clear—that America is the world’s primary defender of peace and freedom... and he’s
proud of it!
Reading SOF now and then is fine, BUT IT’S UNFAIR TO YOU! Of course, we’re pleased when
thousands and thousands of Americans show their support by selecting SOF from their newsstands each
month. But they deserve more. They deserve a steady, reliable source of inside information and insights that
only a subscription can provide.
The Marines say they’re “looking for a few good men.” So are we. We’re looking for men and women who
are fully committed to what we’re doing here at Soldier of Fortune.
We want you .. ..if you really want us!
Here’s our Subscription Offer...
• SAVE MONEY. Subscribe to SOF for 1 year, pay $23.95 and save $11. Subscribe for 2 years,
pay $43.95 and save $25.
• GET YOUR ISSUES LIKE CLOCKWORK. Subscribe and you’re guaranteed your copy of SOF
will be there — in your office or mailbox — every month.
• SATISFACTION GUARANTEED. Our money-back guarantee assures you that if you’re not
satisfied, you can cancel your subscription at any time and we’ll refund the unused balance.
Nothing can be fairer than that. Save and be secure!
The Last Word. If you’re picking up an occasional issue of SOF from newsstands, then it’s obvious this
message is for you. You’re reading SOF now and what we have to offer, what we represent and what we feel
strongly about must be clear to you. That leaves just one question unanswered.
“What are you waiting for?” Use the card. Subscribe now!
JOIN THE
CRUSADE...
SUBSCRIBE
TO SOF!
16 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
LEARN AT HOME IN SPARE TIME
w 2“ttodo/how to
Vmi’ll coo hnw fn toko anort and ronair almncf d
u me in ornne i iiyic vnU
■^sKBSSSSsr”
We
Siss
yoii TO SHOW THE** ^ scarcely
TM "'VeH M«°V e " 'ef shootin*
mlr* cle t Cway to be c ° m ’ ng “ 1 f. app r>-
»ng on the *n ^ the s»mpW!Jg on
Th f* W n ay of OU re« eaUng ?hTt «s exp^^ed
ssAj^asssartsf-
S'irSiSJfiSiS
M h ‘nf ins‘de tips. •"* H J aS yoU
*?«*&&** C ° U,S L
progress tnr° a
III
You’ll see how to take apart and repair almost every
well-known rifle, shotgun, pistol and automatic. We
take the mystery out of ballistics. Show you how to
smooth up actions, fit and repair stocks, rechoke
shotguns, customize handguns. Includes
bedding techniques, stock inletting, fitting
drop and pitch. Learn what the experts know
about reloading. Special section on black
powder guns. How to buy and sell new and
used guns for profits.
As a “Gun Pro” trainee at North American
WE SHOW YOU HOW TO APPLY FOR A FEDERAL FIREARMS LICENSE
If you qualify otherwise, you may
obtain a Federal License to buy and
sell guns, ammunition and accessories
without inventory ... while you are
still a student at North American.
Everything Explained in
Easy-to-Understand Language
so Even a Beginner Can Follow
Explanations include photos, diagrams,
drawings and charts. We send you all the
tools you need so you actually learn by doing
as you follow the lessons. You receive catalogs,
bargain bulletins, requirements for Federal
Firearms License.
This means you can begin making ex¬
tra cash almost immediately — order¬
ing guns for others on a cost-plus
basis. It also helps you get started to¬
ward a business of your own... if that i
is what you want after you graduate.
Start
YourOwi
Home
Business
FIRST FOLD HERE
SPECIAL
TOOLS AND
EQUIPMENT INCLUDED...
You get precision gauges, fine
gunsmith’s screwdrivers, honing
stone, checkering tools,
^ plus much, much more.
GUNS ARE BIG BUSINESS. Gun repair, custom ammo-making,
sporterizing, custom stocking, sales—all are profit oppor¬
tunities for the expert. Now, at home in spare time, you
can learn the basics you need to become that expert. We
do not know how many of our graduates have started their
own gun shops, but we have letters on file from some
who have. And we’ll send you the results of a survey
showing employment success of our graduates.
Graduation from this course does not insure that
you will get a job. To find out how our graduates
have done, send for our job placement record.
You get it all! How to buy and sell guns , . . customize,
repair and accurize them ... fit and finish stocks ... do
hand-loading . . . zero-in scopes . . . understand ballistics
. . , restore antique firearms . . . use black powder
weapons . . . import guns . . . adjust chokes . . . and more.
Because you study at home, you can graduate in months
... or take up to two years. Your handsome Diploma will
proclaim you as a "GUN PRO” when you proudly display
it in your own shop or at work. ^ pjpg-j. pQj_D HER£
2 NO POSTAGE NECESSARY when you
|i mail this ENTIRE Postage-Paid ad
To Mail—Fold ad in following manner:
1. Remove entire page— tear
or cut on dotted line to left
2. Fold page in half on
1st fold lines
3. Fold page again, on
2nd fold lines
4. Tape or glue the 3 open
sides and drop in the
mail box today.
gun repair, ballistics, shooting
SKILLS, REVEALED TO YOU BY EXPERTS
Gives you a good start toward going into your
own business or applying for a Job In a
gunshop.
UJ
CC
Ul
X
o
2
Q
Z
O
o
Ui
O)
12 .
, brochU'?»"“ n hov;>
l£ a ’£ 0 nPro.N° saleS '
GUN SALES
< MEAN PROFITS
|£ FOR REPAIRMEN
■ O
CUSTOMIZING 1 1 RE-LOADING 1
CHECKERING SPORTERIZING
CUSTOM AMMO GUN REPAIR
SALES, IMPORTING* ACCURIZINC
1 TROUBLE-SHOOTING
and MUCH, MUCH MORE
There are more than 20 million hunters plus
more millions of target shooters, gun collectors
and owners in the U.S.
Name _
Address _
City/State/Zip _
Phone No. I_) __
I North American School of Firearms, Dopt. RS085
925 Oak Street, Scranton, PA 10508-9989
SEPTEMBER 85
SOL 1)1 Ell OF FORTUNE 17
Esoteric armory
If you want a more obscure collection
of weaponry than anyone else in your
National Guard unit, you need Joe
Steele’s catalog. M&M Enterprises has
become a major martial arts supplier.
Aside from his old reliable assortment
of crossbows, firearms accessories and
knives, Steele’s catalog now features a
full line of Oriental weapons for use or
display. His shuriken were used to
prepare the Battle Blades column this
month (see page 22) and the halls of
SOF have hardly been safe since a box
ADVENTURE
QUARTERMASTE
of ninja weapons appeared in the mail.
Pictured are: Ninja Claws ($22),
Ninja Shoge Hook ($20) and
Hide-a-Chain Bakuhatsu Gama ($20).
M&M Enterprises, Special Weapons
and Martial Arts Supply, Dept. SOF,
P.O. Box 445, Island Lake, IL 60042.
Phone: (815)455-3403.
Pocket protection
Disguised as a plastic
yawara/keychain, the Ju-jo offers an
unusual range of defense and offense
that fits in your pocket Usable as a
conventional yawara, the keyring pops
out as a handle for a soft nylon
lanyard. The lanyard works for blocks,
locks and strangles.
Tested by Special Forces, the SERE
Committee, Fort Bragg’s Military Police,
SEALs, Rangers, Force Recon and
British SAS, the Ju-jo is constructed of
DuPont Zytel plastic and manufactured
by Choate Machine & Tool Co. The
device has proved sturdy, simple and
practical. But the most impressive thing
about the Ju-jo is its “owners manual.”
Most gimmicky self-defense tools
come with a sketchy instruction sheet
containing extravagant claims instead of
18 SOLDIER OT FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
hard information. Not so with the Ju-jo.
Though the instructions are a bit
expensive for the private purchaser, Dr.
John J. Lewis — developer of the Ju-jo
— has produced a video cassette of a
dojo training session. The lecture
accompanying each demonstration is
impromptu and the delivery is a bit
wooden, but Lewis’ competitors should
take note that he has a better idea. And
they should realize that this training
videotape will probably result in
increased sales to police and military.
For information and prices contact
ParaCombatives, Dept SOF, 2439
Prospect, Evanston, IL 60201. Phone:
(312)864-0383.
Organic lrrps
Spirulina has been a cult food of the
’80s, and is becoming a combat ration
for the Afghan guerrillas.
SOF staff have used the blue-green
algae-based vitamins and food
supplements and found them
satisfactory for our purposes. The rave
review comes from Dr. Bashir Zikria —
co-founder of the Afghan National
Liberation Front and Professor of
Surgical Nutrition at Columbia
University — who has recommended
Light Force’s line of vitamins and
spirulina powder as a travel ration for
mujahideen. Meanwhile, Light Force
Company has donated $100,000 retail
value of spirulina powder to the Afghan
Freedom Fighters.
SOF commends Tony Gray and
Light Force for their exceptional
generosity.
Pictured are Light Force’s one-pound
jar of spirulina powder ($49), Stress
Pack vitamins ($18.99) and Power
Pack ($27.99), distributed by Peak
Performance Network, Dept. SOF,
2270 Diamond Number 216, San
Francisco, CA 94127. Phone: (415)
333-3798. ^
WHEREVER YOU GO Light Force WHATEVER YOU DO
• Quick energy and long-term
nourishment in a concentrated form
• The ideal backpack and survival
food when space and weight are
most critical
• Used by 7 U.S. Olympic Gold
Medalists for vigorous physical
training
• Volume discounts are available
• Distributor inquiries are invited
• WE DONATE OUR PRODUCTS TO
AFGHAN FREEDOM FIGHTERS
Peak Performance Network
3270 Diamond #216
San Francisco, California 94127
(415) 333-3798
PATENT PENDING
MODEL NO. 184
Only Buck
could have
created it!
Here it is—the knife that will master
the toughest wilderness challenge. It's
BuckMaster, the rugged new multi-purpose
field knife from Buck Knives. The 7Vz-mdM
blade upholds the Buck tradition: it holds an
edge! The back of the blade serves as an emer¬
gency wood/metal saw, and its sharpened clip is
serrated for the tough job of cutting rope, wet or dry.
Two detachable "anchors” are included for emergency uses.
The entire knife has a gray, sand-blasted finish. The water-and
air-tight sealed handle provides storage for your emergency
necessities. Black GripTite
sheath even has an emergency
sharpener.
BUCK
For free booklet "KNIFE KNOW-HOW, "
write Buck Knives, Dept. SOF-98S
P.O. Box 1267, El Cajon, CA 92022
KNIVES
Famous for holding an edge!
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 19
SIXTH ANNUAL SOF
CONVENTION
AND COMBAT WEAPONS
MILITARY EXPO
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE will
hold its sixth annual
convention at the Sahara
Hotel and Casino, Las
Vegas, Nevada, 18*22
September 1985.
Preregistration fee is
$100. This provides free
admission to all
seminars. Combat
Weapons Military Expo,
the banquet and all
convention activities,
with the exception of
optional events. Write
SOF CONVENTION ’85,
P.O. Box 693. Boulder,
CO 80306.
COMBAT WEAPONS MILITARY
EXPO — Weapons, equipment
and militaria vendors will display
their wares on 20-22 September.
Get a ciose-up, hands-on view of
everything from aircraft to SCUBA
gear, ammo to armor, and starlight
scopes to IR camouflage. For in¬
formation contact William Weber,
17100 Norwalk Blvd., Suite 116,
Cerritos, CA 90701.
FIREPOWER DEMONSTRATION
— SOF’s weapons-demo team will
once again stage the rock ’n’ roll
show on the firing line. Small-arms
expert Peter Kokalis will scatter the
sand with machine guns of nearly
every description. And blast-master
John Donovan will demonstrate his
explosive toys.
SEMINARS — For the less adven¬
turous, SOF will offer a fascinating
schedule of seminars. Speakers will
conduct information exchanges on
such topics as knife fighting, auto¬
matic weapons, sniping, the French
Foreign Legion, Afghanistan, Central
America and the Middle East And
better military intel than you’ll get
anywhere else without a security
clearance. Free to conventioneers —
$25 for non-conventioneers.
THREE-GUN MATCH —
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE’S action-
packed Three-Gun Match, a world-
class competition involving skill with
pistol, rifle and shotgun will be held
at the Desert Sportsman Rifle and
Pistol Club, 18-20 September. En¬
trance is by invitation only and com¬
petitors must write for an applica¬
tion. Send SASE to Bill Brooks,
4901 Indian trail, Wilmington, NC
28403.
PUGIL-STICK TOURNAMENT -
Gather every evening at poolside to
see bloodthirsty bayonet fighters
swing at each other to the DI’s ex¬
hortations. Five dollars per game will
put you in the running. Sign up at
the convention.
OPERATION HEADHUNTER —
Tackle rough desert terrain with this
strenuous five-mile military obstacle
course. Headhunters must negotiate
the course by running, climbing, and
rappelling with seven five-pound
sandbags on their backs and only
with the help of map, compass and
knife. Limit 70 conventioneers. Only
the fit need apply. For information
send a large SASE to: ALECTO
Group, P.O. Box 253, Elkhom, NE
68022.
SCUBA CLASS — SOF’s
underwater-demolitions expert John
Donovan will conduct SCUBA class¬
es for the beginning diver. All you
need is fins, mask and snorkel —
we’ll provide the rest. Contact John
Donovan, P.O. Box 486, Danver, IL
61732 and be PADI certified.
RAPPELLING SEMINARS — Pro¬
fessional wall-crawler Fritz Borchardt
will once again be leaping and bound¬
ing through his exciting rappelling
classes. And for those who partici¬
pated last year and couldn’t get
enough, a tactical-rappelling class is
being offered. Contact Fritz at
P.O.Box 548, Nederland, CO 80466.
Please send SASE.
PARACHUTING COURSE —
Would-be winged warriors be
warned! The Phantom Airborne Di¬
vision will be conducting parachuting
courses concurrently with the Con¬
vention. Two-day course for novices
and returning jumpers. For informa¬
tion contact Cliff Albright, Phantom
Division, P.O. Box 22505,
Memphis, TN 38122.
BATTLE
BLADES
by Bill Bagwell
Shuriken: Stars That Stick
T
A, HERE’S a starry constellation of
shuriken. From two-inch steel snow¬
flakes to spikes that would scare a ten-
penny nail, they’re all short-range
throwing weapons covered by that one
Japanese word. Think of any regular
shape; stars, swastikas, triangles, cross¬
es, needles and squares. Most likely,
somebody has already made a shur¬
iken with that profile. But how effective
are they, and what are they supposed
to do? Finally, what do martial arts
experts think of them?
To get my opinion out of the way
right at first, let me say that shuriken
are less-than-ideal edged weapons.
About the kindest thing I can say about
such metallic confetti is that they con¬
tribute to ninja mystique.
But don’t misunderstand me. I
wouldn’t want to get hit with one, be¬
cause the thing would hurt.
Hardly any responsible person
seems to think they’re very lethal. In
fact, I believe the real value of the shur¬
iken lies in its power to intimidate. After
all, since they’re used by ninjas, shur¬
iken must be bad news. Right?
This line of reasoning leads me to
believe that shuriken were employed
by the ninja precisely because they
look intimidating. And it helped that he
could easily carry a dozen of the little
persuaders hidden on his person. But
you can forget about Hollywood im¬
ages of the throwing star’s knockdown
power. At most, the shuriken will dis¬
tract, injure or disable an opponent at
ranges well under 30 feet. I can’t think
why I would want to carry one.
Unlike a variety of knives that can
function as tool or weapon, the shur¬
iken is of limited use in a survival sce¬
nario. It is absolutely useless until you
throw it. And, obviously, its primary
function was to distract a pursuer while
the ninja escaped.
Just so you don’t think that this is the
raving of an opinionated knife maker,
I’d like to recommend Sid Campbell’s
book Ninja Shuriken Throwing ($12
from Paladin Press, Dept. SOF, P.O.
Box 1307, Boulder, CO 80306, 303-
443-7250). Campbell offers some
candid comments and insights on the
subject of combat effectiveness of the
shuriken. On the subject of facing an
armed opponent, Campbell says: “If
you are only armed with the shuriken,
it is advisable to put as much distance
as possible between you and your
adversary in the shortest possible
time.” I might add that I think that’s
damned good advice.
While I wouldn’t trade one good
knife for a sackful of shuriken, I do
think they have some — if limited —
value. The things make good toys.
Now, don’t get upset, I like toys. I own
a number of toys, and enjoy each and
every one.
Great toys, but a little shy of being
weapons. Samples courtesy of M&M
Enterprises, Dept. SOF, Box 445,
Island Lake, IL 60042, (815)455-3403.
As toys, shuriken can be fun to
throw. And in the process of develop¬
ing skill and accuracy with shuriken
you also develop your own coordina¬
tion and motor skills. You could do the
same thing with a baseball, but there is
something particularly satisfying about
throwing something that sticks when it
hits.
If my argument to this point seems a
bit tongue-in-cheek, it’s well and good.
That’s because I feel the Oriental mind
that dreamed up this use for small
pieces of scrap iron had his tongue
firmly fixed in his cheek as well. Most
Oriental weapons are effective and
efficient employed within their design
parameters. The shuriken, on the
other hand, is at best only a marginally
effective weapon.
No doubt about it, should a secre¬
tary discover a man dressed in black
rifling her files, a well-placed shuriken
would probably dissuade her from
trying to retrieve her paperwork. On
the other hand, a whole fist-full of shur¬
iken aren’t going to faze a trained and
armed adversary if he catches you in
the cookie jar. Just use your common
sense.
And applying common sense to
weapon design, it’s easy to see the
multi-pointed shuriken is self-limiting.
Simply put, the more points it has, the
less it can penetrate. (Try this in your
kitchen with an icepick and a fork, if
you don’t believe me.) And the steep
included angles of shuriken I’ve seen
make them difficult to get really sharp.
Let’s face it. If an edged weapon can’t
penetrate or slice, it just isn’t going to
be very lethal. If this weren’t enough to
make one take a jaundiced view of the
throwing star, then consider it as a pro¬
jectile weapon on top of its mechanical
inadequacies.
Judged as a projectile weapon, the
shuriken is a dismal failure. Many
primitive projectile weapons are effi¬
cient: bows, crossbows, catapults and
slings all did their killing. The throwing
star is highly unlikely to kill under any
circumstances, and with a maximum
range of 30 feet, it is one of the short-
est-range projectile weapons in his¬
tory. Any man killed by a shuriken just
ran completely out of luck. ^
22 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
Tl|e Wcclly Pully
MILITARY SWEATER
100% Pure Virgin Wool.
Shoulder & Elbow Twill reinforcing
Patches. Used by the Army, Marines,
Air Force, Coast Guard, and many
other demanding users. Made to
rigorous U.S. and British
specifications. Sizes 34 to 46.
The Originai — Made in England.
COMMANDO |UMP SHEATH
TM
>d.
95
V-NECK
WP-121, Navy Blue w/epaulets
WP-125, Navy Blue
WP-131, USAF Blue, w/epauleta
WP-171, US Army Black, w/epaulets & patch
WP-178, Black, US Naval Academy
WP-180, Sand (Tan)
WP-190, Peat Brown, US Fish & Wildlife Service
Only $39.95 ppd
Sizes 48 & 50 $44.
WP-200 Browntone
DERBY TWEED New for 1985!
Handsome Green Heather and Brown Tweed
look is great for the outdoors and casual wear.
WP-1 20, Derby Tweed $39.95 Sizes: 36 to 46
CAMO WOOLLY PULLY®
Registered military style pattern for the adventurous.
Great match up with military camo BDUs.
WP-70, Camo Woolly Pully Sizes: 36 to 46 $39.95 ppd
Select from those styles & colors:
CREW NECK SIZES
WP-110, Olive Green, USMC approved 5177 32-50
WP-115, Olive Green, w/epaulets 34-50
WP-120, Navy Blue 32-50
WP-127, Navy Blue, w/epaulels 36-46
WP-130, RAF Blue/grey 32-50
WP-170, Black 34-46
WP-185, Sand (Tan) 34-16
WP-200, Brown to ne-Raflfl-look 34-10
WP-70, Camouflage 34-50
RANGER BOONIE HATS
Floppy Vietnam Style Hat
with the Short Brim . Military Fabrics .
Made to Mil-spec design. Sizes: 7, 7V4, 7V2, 7 3 A.
VRH-2, OD Boonie A _ _
VRH-3, Black Boonie $11 -95 ppd.
VRH-5, Navy Blue Boonie
VRH-7. Woodland Camo Boonie
VRH-8, Day/Desert Boonie
BATTLE DRESS UTILITIES
BRIGADE’S RIPSTOP -
COMBAT CLOTH™
Lightweight, rugged, and fully reinforced for the
toughest conditions. Exclusive 65/35 RipStop
Poplin, Made to Army patterns for the regular B™ 1
but more comfortable in our all-climate Combat
Coats: XS(1), S(2), M(3), L(4), XL(5).
Trousers: XS(1), S(2), M(3), L(4), XL(5) Longs in
S, M.Lonly.
Colors: (1) Woodland Camo (2) SWAT Black (3)
TAC-TEAM Navy Blue (4) Urban Smoke Gray
BRC, Combat Cloth Coat $32.95 ppd.
BRT, Combat Cloth Trousers $32.95 ppd.
Our Exclusive Sheath provides greater wear flexibility and
protection for your trusty edged tools. Internally lined with
flexible plastic, covered with water-repellent, mil-spec
packcloth. May be carried on regular belts. Clips not incl.
Select for 5", 8",12" and 18" blades.
Colors: (1 Camouflage, (3)Black.
CJS5( ), Commando Jump Sheath, 5" $8.95
CJS8( ), Commando Jump Sheath, 8" $9.95
CJS1 2( ), Commando Jump Sheath, 12" $11.95
CJS18( ), Commando Jump Sheath, 18" $13.95
ALC-1 50, ALICE Attaching Clips 2 pack $1.25
WORLDWIDE SURVIVAL TOOL
The Survival 12" Machete is a perfect choice for all
Outdoorsmen. Every soldier should own one. Chop, dig,
skin, cut for survival or around the home.
50 MCH312, Survival Machete 12" $7.95 ppd.
COMMANDO WATCHBAND ™
Protects and conceals nighttime glow. Unique Velcro®doubleiock
band and crystal cover strap. Ideal for nightwork, hunting, and hard
work. Measure wrist to nearest larger V4" mark for correct size.
CB21 , Camo Watchband $5.95 ppd.
Also available in OD & Black
Type 8 nylon web Parachute Webbing.
CB1 , Commando Watchband $5.50 ppd.
Revolutionary design
is multi-pocketed and
is worn suspended
around the neck.
For ultra high security! Ideal for travelers, hikers,
military personnel, children, and women. Holds
currency, coins, keys, passport, travel
documents, accessories.
Closed Size: 5 3 A x 7 3 U ".
Colors: Camo, Olive Drab, Black, Navy, Tan.
KEP-82, Trek Saf $12.95 ppd.
Postpaid Shipping TOTAL ENCLOSED
Send Check, Money Order or charge to Visa, Mastercard, Amex.,
or Diners Club. Foreign orders must request postage rates.
Card #_Expires:_
Name_
Send FREE Catalogue of Basics for Life Products. Address
Brigade Quartermasters, Ltd.— city_
266 Roswell Street (601), Marietta GA 30060 State_
Charge Phone Orders to your Bankcard Call [404] 428-1234
-Zip-
Money Back Guarantee
SUMMER DISCOUNT
Use the "Special Summer Discount” box on the order form
and deduct 10% from any order of $40.00 or more! This offer is
being extended to you, our valued customers. It is our way of
saying, "Have a good summer!” ORDER NOW to take advan¬
tage of this opportunity! Offer ends September 1,1985. (Offer
available to retail customers only.) _
THE FIGHTING RIFLE
by Chuck Taylor
Pros who want to stay alive on city
streets or in jungle firefights will
team much from Taylor, a seasoned
combat veteran and shooting in¬
structor. Included here is info on
weapon selection, modifications,
ammo, night sights, training and
competition. The chapter on field-
stripping covers virtually every
modern assault and battle rifle. 816 x
11. softcover, photos, 184 pp.
$12.95
WEAPONS OF THE STREET
by Dr. Ted Gambordella
Don't let fear of a bat-swinging or
chain-wielding punk dog your step.
This street-wise manual shows how
to defend oneself against clubs,
chains, bottles, knives. Close-up
photos show how to use common-
sense fighting moves and lightning-
fast speed to turn weapons of the
street to your undisputed advan¬
tage. 516 x 816, softcover, photos,
80 pp $8.00
DEAD CLIENTS
DON T PAY
DEAD CLIENTS DON'T PAY
The Bodyguard's Manual
by Leroy Thompson
Now, learn the business of body-
guarding like it really is! Topics in¬
clude checking for auto tampering,
home and office security, weapons’
selection, assessing thethreatsand
more. Illustrations detail car and
grounds security. Here are the
glamour, the guns, the facts of the
trade. 516 x SVfe, softcover, 120 pp.
$ 10.00
THE COLT .45 EXOTIC WEAPONS SYSTEM
The ultimate selective-fire conversion for the famed Colt
.45 is here! All original components are retained, and only
three functional parts have been added, each of whichcan
be built using common hand tools. The ingenious auto¬
matic tripping device—a feature never before incorporated
in any machine pistol of this type—provides for trouble-free
operation. A revolutionary, compact, removable folding
metal front grip aids in controlling the gun when firing full
auto. Carefully researched and thoroughly tested for relia¬
bility, this conversion system works with outstanding ac¬
curacy and safety. 9x12,softcover, illus., photos, templates,
80 pp. $12.00
TIGER SCROLL OF THE
KOGA NINJA
by lay Sensei
Passed down through the ages from
master to disciple, the tiger scroll
transmitted the secret ways of the
Koga, an infamous Ninja clan. The
weapons, training and fechniquesof
these assassins are revealed in
English for the first time. Numerous
illustrations show how the Koga
mastered seemingly magical pow¬
ers. 5 1 /* x 8Vi, softcover, illus., 96 pp.
$8.00
UNREPENTANT SINNER
by Colonel Charles Askins
Experience justice—Askins’ style. Unrepentant sinner
Charles Askins raises heii around the world and lives to tell
about it in this raw, action-packed autobiography. Whether
as part of his official or unofficial duties, Askins stalks man
and beast, stretching the limits of authority to live life to the
fullest. In this unexpurgated memoir, the Colonel pursues
wetbacks, cattle rustlers, poachers, and Vfetcong—to name
a few. As one of the world’s greatest big-game hunters,
Askins recalls his adventures hunting virtually every type of
big game. Read about one of the world's last rugged ,ndi-
vidualists. 6x9, hardcover, photos, 320 pp. $17.95
Forbidden
Fighting
Techniques
fflNinia
FORBIDDEN FIGHTING
TECHNIQUES OF THE NINJA
by Ashtda Kim
Pass through the dark night of the
soul and, like the Ninja, become a
mystic warrior of the shadows. To
help you in your quest of the Silent
Way, Ashida Kim presents exer¬
cises, strategy, fighting techniques
and ceremonial oaths of initiation
With practice and study, you can
master this terrifying form of self-
defense. 816 x 11, hardcover, 271
photos, 128 pp $19.95
K&LL'S E¥S
tsoasGw: a# «***«
BULL'S EYE: CROSSBOWS BY
RAGNAR BENSON
From the armies of Alexander the
Great to contemporary pig traps in
Burma, the crossbow has had a tong
and illustrious career. In his unique,
entertaining style, Ragnar takes you
around the world to demonstrate
today's crossbow. Learn all the
crossbow’s uses, the insand outs of
modern crossbows and the prob¬
lems you’ll face in the field. 5% x 816,
softcover, illus., photos, 94 pp.
$8.00
BOUNTY HUNTER
by Bob Burfon
Adventure is his occupation; a hefty
commission is his reward. He is a
professional bounty hunter, and he
stalks the most elusive of all prey—a
wanted man. Here is the businesses
told by a pro. Learn how to get your
first job, track a fugitive, arrest him
and turn him over to the police.
Included is a state-by-state listing of
laws. 516 x 816, softcover. 136 pp,
$10.00
THE AR-7 EXOTIC WEAPONS SYSTEM
A com prehensive home workshop guide for the gun buff
and hobbyist machinist. Over fifty working machinist's
drawings, photos, and full-scale templates show exactly
how to convert the AR-7 .22 survival rifle into a full-auto
silenced machine pistol or rifle. Step-by-step instruc¬
tions detail how tomodify the weapon's original receiver,
fabricate new sear and safety, as well as make a simple,
efficient silencer group assembly. 9 x 12, softcover,
machinist's drawings, photos, full-scale templates,
72 pp. $12.00
iijfl
mm
THROWING
NINJA SHURIKEN THROWING
The Weapon of Stealth
by Sid Campbell
Silent, deadly, treacherous, easily
hidden. Each cf these words de¬
scribes the invincible Ninja—and
his lethal weapon, the shuriken
("Throwing Star' 1 ). Shuriken styles
and composition, gripping and
throwing methods, traieclory, target
areas, penetration characteristics,
fighting tactics, and more are in¬
cluded. 5 Vi x 816. softcover. illus..
photos. 152 pp $12.00
THE RUGER PISTOL EXOTIC WEAPONS SYSTEM
For the first time, conversion plans for a super-compact,
selective-fire machine pistol! Turn your Ruger Mark I or II
into a fistful of power—without modifying the receiver or
bolt group and using hand-built parts This ingenious con¬
version fires from the original closed bolt system—making
tiring extremely accurate—and uses original trigger parts.
The detachable auto tripper device can readily be removed
for semiauto shooting only. Machinist’s drawings, full-
scale templates and photos accompany directions. 9x12,
softcover, illus., 96 pp. $12.00
'1
4
* ■
$
4 Deal
the
Nr
First
K
rs
DEADLY
BLOW!
M>
£
jLjL.
l
DEAL THE FIRST DEADLY BLOW
The encyclopedia of unarmed and
hand-to-hand combat. A total
training course forthearena where
second place is last. This is not a
treatise cn the gentlemanly art of
self-defense. Teaches you how to
survive a kill or get killed situation.
8'6 x 11, softcover, 156 pp $14.00
THE COMPLETE BOOK OF
COMBAT HANDGUNNING
by Chuck Taylor
All aspects of combat handgunsand
their use are covered in this com¬
plete manual. Hundreds of illustra¬
tions show using survival handguns,
preparing the handgun for combat,
caring for handguns, and handgun
stopping power. An important fire¬
arms book for survivalistsand com¬
bat handgun owners. 816 x 11, soft-
cover, illus., 200 pp. $12.95
DRAGONS
r-
MASTER 8£iU*C
DRAGONS TOUCH
by Master Hei Long
Drop your opponent in an instant
with the deadly moves of the Drag¬
ons Touch Immobilize or destroy
your foe with high-impact blows to
the body's most vulnerable areas
Learn which angles to use in strik¬
ing 43 major target areas. These
pressure points are explicitly illus¬
trated. and 165 photos guide you in
attacking each area with the moves
of Uan Shi Kung Fu. 5'6x 8'6. soft-
cover, illus.. 184 pp $10 00
DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED!
~WANTED~
ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS ON MARTIAL ARTS,
SURVIVAL, MILITARY SCIENCE, WEAPONRY,
REVENGE AND OTHER RELATED SUBJECTS.
SEND A COPY OF THE MANUSCRIPT TO
PALADIN PRESS, P.O. BOX 1307, BOULDER,
COLORADO 80306.
MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE!
24 SOLMEH OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
NINJA HANDS OF DEATH
by Ashida Kjm
The most ruthless and devastating fighters the world has ever known, the invincible Ninja
kills his enemy silently and efficiently. But no technique he uses is more devastating than the
Dance of the Deadly Hands. Composed of 27 of the most vicious and lethal Ninja moves,
these hand strikes are guaranteed to kill, cripple or maim any attacker This martial art is used
today as it has been for so many centuries—an adequate defense against it has yet to be
devised. Implementing the five elements of combat, an unarmed fighter can skillfully throw
the enemy (Earth), direct an attack against a specific target (Fire), envelop theenemy (Water),
disappear in full view (Air) and take the enemy by surprise (Wood). Renowned practitioner of
the unholy science of ninjitsu, Ashida Kim shares his knowledge regarding such strategy
and tactics as submission holds, shin-kicking exercises, Chikairi No Jitsu (Nine Methods of
Prevailing), attacking an enemy from above and more. 5V2 x QVz, softcover, 110 photos, 152 pp.
$10.00
SILENCERS IN THE I980S
Great Onions, Great Designers
by /. David Truby
Now, an in-depth, fully illustrated report on the newest
developments in suppressor technology. J. David Truby
provides all-new info on the innovative designs of today's
suppressor designers, plus explosive data on those who
use them His investigative research gives definitive
comparisons of models, prices, features, kits, indepen¬
dent manufacturers, and silencer technology. You'll not
read this privy info anywhere else! 816 x 11. softcover. 132
photos, 120 pp. $12.00
THE COMBAT
SHOTGUN AND
CHINE GUN
THE COMBAT SHOTGUN
AND SUBMACHINE GUN
A Special Weapons Analysis
6y Chuck Taylor
From one of America's mastsought-
after shooting instructors comes an
in-depth analysis of these two con¬
troversial small arms. Taylor pro¬
vides a comprehensive education
in the use of these commonly mis¬
employed guns. Includes info on
field testing, drills, tactics, accesso¬
ries and techniques. 016 x 11, soft-
cover, 305 photos. 1 76 pp. $14.95
SPECIAL FORCES OPERATIONAL TECHNIQUES
In every respect, except for our weatherproof cover and
handy pocket size, this is an exact reprint of the famous
Army Field Manual 31 -20. All illustrations and every one of
the 535 pages of vital information are included. Chapters
include intelligence, psych ops, raids and ambushes,
communications, demolition, survival, improvised weap¬
onry and much, much more! 4x5, softcover, illus.. 535 pp.
$14.95
U.S. NAVY SEAL
COMBAT MANUAL
U.S. NAVY SEAL
COMBAT MANUAL
One of the rarest FMs in the field of
military collecting. Provides up-to-
date info on equipment and tactics
employed by this elite fighting force.
Covers SEAL weapons, survival,
communications, diving, first aid,
demolitions and more. 816 x 11,
softcover, illus., 240 pp. $14.95
NINJA DEATH TOUCH
by Ashida Kim
Here are the secrets of the unholy
science that kills with a wave of a
hand! Certain Ninja practiced the
Death Touch, a type of black
medicine that destroys through
manipulation of the body’s nervous,
circulatory and Chi systems. Learn
Dim Hsueh, Dim Ching and the in¬
famous Dim Mak techniques. Illus¬
trated with step-by-step photos, 5’6
x 016, softcover, illus., 104 pp.
$10.00
DISGUISE
TECHNIQUES
■, *■! tin |1 «• ifil.
DISGUISE TECHNIQUES
Fool All of the People
Some of the Time
by Edmond A Maclnaygh
Like the chameleon, you can blend
m with your surroundings—or be
invisible—using these tried-and-
true techniques Size up people and
situations at a glance, change your
personality, and create temporary
and permanent disguises Includes
makeup, clothing, wigs and acces¬
sories tips 5V?x 8v>, sottcover.illus.,
80 pp $8.00
THE RUGER 1022 EXOTIC WEAPONS SYSTEM
Here is a conversion system you can bet your life on! Now
you can transform your Roger 1022 into a selective-fire,
close-combat gun you can trust. With simple hand tools,
you can build the parts that will convert your trusty Roger
1022 into a selective-fire weapon that can fire over 1,000
rounds per minute on full auto—all without modifying the
receiver or trigger housing tn any way. Just drop in the
conversion parts, and you're ready for whatever—or
whomever—comes. Over 60 explicit photos, machinist's
drawings and full-scale templates accompany the de¬
tailed instructions for making this conversion foolproof
9x12, softcover. illus., 96 pp. $12.00
NINJA SECRETS OF INVISIBILITY
by Ashida Kim
Like the Ninja warrior, you too can
walk unobserved, penetrate for¬
bidden areas unseen and depart at
will without leaving a trace. The
secrets of invisibility, combined
with the deadly moves of Ninjitsu,
can make you invincible. Over 170
close-up photos show the moves
which will make you the undenia¬
ble victor! 5’6 x 816, softcover. pho¬
tos, 120pp. $10.00
NO NEED TO DIE
Real Techniques of Survival
by Eddie McGee
Eddie McGee is Great Britain's greatest survivalist, and his
practical, easy-to-follow suggestions for keeping your
head—and your life—in the wilderness are among the best
there are. McGee ;s called the one person who can track
fugitives in the woods, so sensitive is his knowledge about
living in the wilds. In this profusely illustrated book, trap¬
ping, survival in the cold and heat, direction finding and
tracking, food, water, fire and cooking are covered. 9% x
7V«, softcover. illus., 186 pp. $10,00
I HATE YOU!
An Angry Man's Guide to Revenge
by M. Nelson C bunder
Make fun where there is none and
get your revenge at the same time. In
the same genre as Get Even and Up
Yours, I Hate You! will ensure you
get the last laugh! Humorous, yet
effective, over one hundred sixty
schemes show how to strike out at
those who have done you dirty. 516 x
816, hardcover, 182 pp. $12,95
FIND ’EM
FAST
A PRWDT
WVESHGATORS
WORKBOOK
FIND ’EM FAST
A Private Investigator’s Workbook
by John D. McCann
Here are the worksheets—and ac¬
companying text on how to use
them—that real working private in¬
vestigators need. Set up in 816 x 11
format, these useful tools are ready
for on-the-job use. Included are the
methods for getting data and 43
pages of source info that are indis¬
pensable. 016 x 11. softcover. 168 pp.
$ 12.00
UP YOURS!
\dvanced revenge techniques and
original dirty tricks from the author
jf Get Even. Here are the meanest,
tastiest pranks for snakelike sales¬
men, nagging relatives, nosey
neighbors, and all those people you
ove to hate. Read Up Yours! and
start getting even today! 5% x 8’6,
hardcover, 220 pp. $12.95
OTHER FASCINATING TITLES
N1NJUTSU: THE ART OF
INVISIBILITY S 4.95
POLICE HANDGUN
AMMUNITION $ 6.00
GET EVEN 2 ... $12.95
SURVIVAL POACHING .$14.95
COMBAT .45 AUTOMATIC $12.95
ART OF SHURIKEN JUTSU $10.00
LIVE OFF THE LAND IN THE CITY
AND COUNTRY.... . $16.95
SPECIAL FORCES
HANDBOOK $ 8.00
HOW TO HIDE ANYTHING $10.00
SURVIVALIST’S MEDICINE
CHEST ... ,..$5.95
HOME WORKSHOP SILENCERS
VOL. I .... $12.00
BROWNING HI-POWER EXOTIC
WEAPONS SYSTEM $12.00
SHADOWS OF DARKNESS:
SECRETS OF THE NIGHT
FIGHTER $12.00
RAGNAR'S TEN BEST TRAPS. $8.00
MEAT ON THE TABLE: MODERN
SMALL GAME HUNTING. $14.95
HOW TO FIND ANYONE
ANYWHERE. $19.95
AN INFANTRYMAN’S GUIDE TO
URBAN COMBAT.$14.95
GREAT SURVIVAL RESOURCE
BOOK 2 $15.95
BLACK MEDICINE I $10.00
BLACK MEDICINE II $10.00
BLACK MEDICINE III.. $10.00
PALADIN PRESS
PO BOX 1307- JMW
Call TOLL FREE for credit card orders:
1-800-824-7888; Ask for Operator §249.
BOULDER, CO 80306
3g£
Send $1 for latest PALADIN CATALOG,
Phone (303) 443-7250
Catalog free with order
Please send me the following titles:
I
I
I
I
A
Payment □ Chet k or Money Order.□ VISA.P MasterCard.
Card N6.__
NAME _
ADDRESS
CITY_
. STATE _
SUBTOTAL _
Dedut t 10’\. only from
- order over $4 0,00. NO
EXCEPTIONS. [
Please include*
$3,00 postage
and hjndling _
TOTAL__
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 25
fMfffIMIM VP
JOIN THE ADVENTURE!
Original — All Weather
MOLESKINS by
RATCATCHER™
12 Month Guarantee
“You can’t wear ’em out”
l
Pur^' - Style! T. Comfort!
Cotton ' Rugged! I& - Lasting!
MOLESKIN COMBAT STRIDES
Carefully tailored, hard wearing pants, wind
proof, snag resistant cloth. Based on British
Assault fatigues. Pockets where they are
needed by sportsmen. Field Green, Waist
sizes 30" to 42", leg lengths 29" 31" 33"
MOLESKIN SHIRTS . . .
They look like, feel like, wear like real
chamois. Comfortable, roomy and washable
time and time again. Fawn or Olive Green.
Sizes: S,M,L,XL
FREE S.A.S. CHOKER
with Moleskin Shirt or Combat Strides. They
soak up rain and keep neck warm and dry.
Green only. 750 value
PHONE ORDERS
1-800-524-0885
(in N.J. 201-851-2450)
TMail tTRArCATCHERS, U.S.A.
| 600 N. Union Ave., Hillside N.J., 07205
| □ MOLESKIN STRIDES $ 69
I
Waist Size _
. Length.
- □ MOLESKIN SHIRT
Color □ Fawn □ Olive Green
$
Size □ S. □ M. □ L. □ XL.
49
7.50ea
FREE with order
! □ SAS CHOKER
■ □ Red □ Green □ Blue
I Please rush above, I enclose
I S
! □ CHECK □ MONEY ORDER [NO COD]
| or charge □ VISA □ MC □ DINERS □ AMEX
. Plus 3.50 P&H
I
| NAME_
| ADDRESS.
| CITY_
expires i
| STATE_
^IGNATURE .
ZIP
I WAS THERE
by Joe Coyle
Coming of Age at Phu Loc II
The tall coconut palms waved in the
late morning breeze which carried the
soft whisper of the sea to our straining
ears. Relentless, brutal rays from the
sun beat down on us from a cloudless
sky and sweat stung our eyes. Throaty
cries of unseen tropical birds echoing
throughout the jungle made us jumpy.
Were they really birds — or enemy
troops signaling our presence?
We were surrounded by beauty and
tropical splendor but no one was en¬
joying the scenery. In the villages we
passed, women and children silently
observed our passage from the shad¬
ows of their thatch-roofed hooches.
They could sense the danger too,
It was harvest time in Vietnam but
no farmers were working the patch-
work of rice paddies in this area. That
told us all was not right in the area
around the villages of Phu Loc I and
Phu Loc II. The dikes we had been
forced to cross to avoid sloshing
through the muddy paddies gave way
to soft sand and that’s when we found
out what was wrong here.
An angry bark of machine-gun fire
brought the answer. We were stunned
by the sight of our platoon sergeant
falling under the fire to lie still in the soft
sand. Bienvenido Pagan was a small,
cocky Puerto Rican that we all re¬
spected. And now he was gone.
My platoon instinctively scrambled
for cover and began to return fire as we
had done so many times in the recent
past. This time we were getting the
worst of the contact. We were dying in
the sand on the other side of Phu Loc’s
rice paddies. In most of our recent con¬
tact, we had the upper hand. This was
different.
The recon platoon of the 1st Cavalry
Division that I had joined in late De¬
cember 1966 had suffered no casual¬
ties. All of our contacts had provided us
with nothing more than enemy body
counts, adrenalin rushes, and war stor¬
ies. Now we were locked in the para¬
dox of a Tet ceasefire and taking dead
and wounded at an astonishing rate.
And we could not clear missions for fire
support.
The classic horseshoe-shaped
ambush into which we had allowed
ourselves to wander now had us firmly
in its grip. Unyielding gunfire was slow¬
ly chewing us up. Our Cav patches
gleamed like beacons in the jungle and
1 wished to God we had the subdued
ones then.
As medevac ships airlifted the
wounded out, we were left using the
dead as cover. The tall succulents that
littered the area were not stopping bul-
26 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
lets. We fired at quivering palm fronds
in the tops of the surrounding trees and
were occasionally rewarded by a
glimpse of a body falling from a tree.
Our dead were piling up at a staggering
rate. Sorrow and grief would come la¬
ter. There was no time to think about it
now.
Sounds died. Odors ceased to
permeate my senses. My vision be¬
came tunneled. My concentration in¬
tensified. The war became for me — as
it eventually does for everyone in com¬
bat — not a fight for any particular
doctrine or cause. It had become a
fight for survival. The will to live far
outweighs any dedication to principle.
And war, I was quickly finding out, had
few principles.
I felt no pain when it finally hap¬
pened. There were simply dull thumps
in my shoulder and knee. Suddenly I
was lying 10 feet back from where I
had been and draining blood into the
soft sand. The next flash of recall has
me being lifted onto a slick and on my
way out of the death-trap at Phu Loc. I
remember the heat from the nape
strike that eventually came. I remem¬
ber the ringing in my ears from the roar
of F-lOOs firing 20mm cannon into the
enemy positions.
And I remember looking into the
pale faces of my platoon-mates who
didn’t make it out of there alive. I was
glad to be a survivor. I was glad to be
wounded and out of the fighting for
awhile.
Two months later as I lay in a hospi¬
tal bed in Tokyo, I read in The Stars
and Stripes that much of the remainder
of my platoon had died. During the
months that followed I did a lot of
thinking about where I had been and
what 1 had been doing. Never for one
second since I first set foot in Vietnam
have I experienced anything but pride
in my small role in that conflict. But
others saw it differently.
I spent several hours sitting next to a
young woman on the plane home from
Ft Lewis, Washington and she never
spoke to me. The stewardess didn’t offer
me the complimentary drink she served
everyone else. When I landed in San
Diego on that cool night in December of
1967, the only hugs I got were from
Mom and Dad The uniform I was —
and still am — so proud of brought cold
stares from civilians. It was as if the 1st
Cav patch on my right shoulder, which I
considered a badge of honor, was a
brand of infamy.
I grew up in Vietnam. The fight at
Phu Loc II was the rite of passage. I am
a better man today because of my ex¬
periences in-country. And I like to
think that there are several hundred
thousand American citizens today who
are better citizens because we were
there. ^
Armaturen-Gcsellsehaft m.h.H.
A-469Q Schwanensladt/R u estorf
Ptione: Austria (07673) 27 81/2782
Cables: AP GES Schwan^risbadt/ Austria
Telex: austria 2665611 ultra
Telefax: (07673) 2781-3/App 52
HG 79, Mini HG80, HG 77,
including their igniters.
ARGES Rifle-I munched
Grenades SGG 79.
ARGES Anti-Personnel Jumping
Mine.
ARGES Horizontal
Anti-Personnel Mine M 80
and M 82.
• NON LETHAL
• STUNS/IMMOBILIZES
• CANNOT BE TAKEN AWAY
• INTIMIDATES MOST ATTACKERS
• AFFECTIVE 15 TO 20 FEET
• RECHARGEABLE POWER PACK
SEND $99.50
To AMAZING CONCEPTS DEPT. SF BOX 716
AMHERST, NH 03031 • FREE CATALOG
40 mm ammunition for hand
guns, e. g. (Irenade Rifle M 79,
Grenade Tube M 203 and osiers.
Helmets, Mess Tilt, Water
Bottles, etc.
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 27
OUTFITTERS OF THE PROFESSIONALS
SOF EXCHANGE • P.O. Box 687, Boulder, CO 80306
Phone (303) 449-3750
#1600 — Ail-weather Fiber Pile Sleeping
Bag. Two sleeping bags in one. Made of high
performance fiber pile with a windproof shell of
pertex. The bags can be used together in arctic
conditions or separately in warmer weather.
Total weight 6 lbs. Imported from the UK.
$150
#5030 — Hotcake Holster from Special
Weapons. Constructed of ballistic nylon, the
hotcake features a Hook & Loop adjustable
thumb break and is designed to be used by
both right- and left-handed shooters. The hot¬
cake features a full tunnel back belt loop to
insure the firearm rides close to the body for
maximum concealment. Fits most popular
handguns. Black. $24.95
Original Vietnam-style Tiger Stripe Fa¬
tigues. Shirt features two breast pockets and a
sleeve pocket for compass or first aid dressing.
Pants feature two front, two rear pockets and
two thigh pockets wth an additional small pock¬
et for compass or first aid dressing. 100% cot¬
ton. Made in Thailand. Tiger Stripe, S. M, ML,
L. #1520 Shirt, #1521 Pants. $29.95 ea.
#1017 — SOF Shorts. Rugby style with two
side pockets and elasticized waist. Navy. S, M,
L, XL $12.95
#1525 — Original British Commando
Pullover 100% pure virgin wool rib knit. Olive
green with cotton/polyester twill shoulder and
elbow patches. Features epaulets with Velcro
tabs. Made in England to NATO standards.
(^Includes free SOF subdued patch.) S, M, L,
XL $39.95
#1522 — British DPM Windproof Pants.
Same material as our SAS Smock. Features
two large map thigh pockets with Velcro flaps.
Drawcord inside waistband plus buttoned
waistband tighteners. Two front pockets and
one rear pocket with buttoned flap. Zip fly.
Buttoned belt loops large enough to fit standard
web pistol belts. All lengths 33". 100% cotton
made in the UK. S, M, L. XL $69.00
SAS Smock. Standard issue for members of
Special Air Service Regiment. Its windproof
material, light-weight and fast-drying qualities
have long made it the first choice of profession¬
al soldiers. Made from MOD disruptive pattern
tight-weave cotton, it is handmade to the high¬
est specification. Among its many exceptional
features are: Light weight — 2 lb. 2 oz. • Quick
drying • Breathable • Windproof • Lined hood
with draw cords • Lined shoulders and elbows
• Four bellows pockets • Shoulder pocket for
pens • Drawstring at waist and hem • Heavy-
duty metal zip with coldweather tag • Velcro
front-fastening storm flap • Velcro cuffs • Inside
breast pocket • Warm in the winter, cool in the
summer, the SAS Smock is suitable for both
professional and general use. The Smock is
generously cut to wear over clothes. $124.95
(S) #1499, (M) #1500, (L) #1501, (XL)
#1502
28 SOLIHER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
OUTFITTERS OF THE PROFESSIONALS
SOF EXCHANGE • P.0. Box 687, Boulder, CO 80306
Phone (303) 449-3750
#1515 — Soldier of Fortune Tour Jacket
Black nylon satin jacket with flannel lining.
s,m,l,xJ. $49.95
#1010 — SOF Sport Shirt. 50/50 cotton/
poly blend. With rib-knit collar and sleeve cuffs.
Navy, white or red. $14.95
#7022 — SOF Beret Badge. Red enameled.
$7.00
#7023 — SOF Beret Badge. Silver drop.
$8.00
#7024 — SOF Beret Badge. Black ano¬
dized. $8.00
#7020 — SOF Logo Lapel Pin. Red
enameled. $2.50
#7021 — SOF Logo Lapel Pin. Silver drop.
#7010 — SOF Belt Buckle. Pewter. $6.95
#7011 — SOF Belt Buckle. Stainless steel
with red enameled logo. $9.95
#7012 — SOF Military Style Buckle with
silver drop logo. $11.95
#7013 — SOF Military Style Buckle.
Black with black anodized logo. $11.95
#7014 — Web belt for Military Style
Buckle. IV 4 ”. Khaki $3.00
#3001 — Brunton 8X30 Rubber Armored
Binocular. Waterproof, black-rubber-
armored, fully coated roof- prism optics. Built-in
compass and reticle rangefinder for superb out¬
door and marine use, even in low light Field of
view 367 ft. at 1000 yds.; 24.8 oz. padded belt
pouch $389
#3002 — Brunton 8X21 Camo Binocular.
Green camouflage armor and fully coated roof-
prism optics. Great for hunting, fishing, bird
watching and all outdoor uses. Field of view
367 ft at 1000 yds.; 8.8 oz. With camo canvas
belt pouch. $99.95
$6.00
#2001 —Soldier of Fortune Beret. 100%
wool with liner. Maroon. Sizes 6 V 2 , 6%, 7, 7Vs,
IV*, 7%, 7Vz t 7%, 7%. $13.95
#7031 — SOF Mug. White porcelain. $7.95
#7032 — SOF Ashtray. White porcelain.
$4.95
#7033 — SOF Binders. Holds 12 issues.
$7.95
#7034 — SOF Can Cooler. Red $3.95
#7037 — Survive Magazine Binders.
Holds 12 issues. $7.95
#7001 — Official Soldier of Fortune
patch. Red, white and black. $1.95
#7002 — Official Soldier of Fortune
patch. Subdued. Olive drab. $1.95
#7003 — SOF Cammo Shield patch.
$4.95
#7004 — El Salvador Battalion Aero-
transportado patch. $4.95
Wc accept tele¬
phone order* on
MasterCard &
VISA — call ue at
(303) 449-3750.
I' Sorry, no collect
I calls accepted I
PLEASE INCLUDE
$1.75 FOR THE
FIRST ITEM
I ORDERED — IN¬
CLUDE 75$ FOR
EACH ADDITION¬
AL ITEM FOR
POSTAGE AND
HANDLING. Over¬
seas orders add
30%. PLEASE
ALLOW 4-6 WEEKS
. FOR DELIVERY.
I_
Mail to: SOF EXCHANGE, P.O. Box 687, Boulder, CO 80306
NAME___
ADDRESS__
CITY_STATE_ZIP-
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 29
. FULL AUTO
^ ii by Peter G. Kokalis
Assault Rifle’s German Genesis
^)vER the past eight years, SOF’s
FULL AUTO column has provided the
world’s most widely read forum for the
discussion of automatic weapons. I
have been writing FULL AUTO for the
last half of that period and have
noticed the column attracts a wide
range of interest levels from collectors
to technologists. Collectors represent a
significant proportion of those who fol¬
low FULL AUTO each and every
month and those with a special interest
in German World War II weaponry are
among the most intense fans.
That deserves consideration and this
month’s column is devoted to a most
fascinating and important military
small-arm development of this century
— the world’s first true assault rifle —
the German MP44/StG44.
The advantages of an intermediate
cartridge — the assault rifle’s most sa¬
lient characteristic — were first pro¬
posed by a German officer during
World War I. In 1934 a developmental
contract was placed with Polte Werke
of Magdeburg for a cartridge less
powerful than the standard 7.92x33
Kurz (short) cartridge.
In 1938 C.G. Haenel of Suhl, Thu¬
ringia was given a contract to develop a
rifle which would feature a simple
mechanism, be no heavier than the
current infantry rifle, have a shorter
length, be controllable in full-auto-
assault fire, be able to deliver precision
semiauto fire, have a trajectory similar
to the 98k out to 600 meters and prove
reliable in both arctic and desert en¬
vironments. Stamped-sheet-metal
components were to be used wherever
possible. Fifty prototypes were re¬
quired by July 1942.
Working independently, the well-
known firm of Carl Walther in Zella-
Mehlis entered the so-called Maschin-
enkarabiner (machine carbine) Pro¬
gram in 1940. They received a govern¬
ment contract in 1941 to produce 200
prototypes for test by August 1942.
Walther was directed to utilize the 30-
rd. magazine designed at Haenel by the
famous Hugo Schmeisser.
Original plans called for large-scale
production qf both designs. The
Haenel rifle was designated as the MKb
42(H) and the Walther design as the
MKb 42(W). During field trials in 1942,
the Walther design was eliminated.
Confusion concerning the nomen¬
clature of the MP44/StG44 series runs
rampant. It is widely held that Hitler
himself was responsible. In 1943 he
prohibited further development, citing
the need for a long-range rifle in Africa,
the existence of 8 billion rounds of
7.92x57mm ammunition in inventory
and his own experiences in World War
I. To evade his prohibition, work con¬
tinued under the subterfuge designa¬
tion MP43 (Maschinen Pistole or
StG44: The world’s first assault rifle
— and still one of the best —
carried through Emma-Gees’
full-auto fun house by Sam Urschel.
Machine Pistol). Early in 1944, three
generals, decorated personally by the
Fuhrer for service on the Eastern
Front, requested production and field¬
ing of the MP43. After reviewing the
preliminary field reports, Hitler
directed priority development in Au¬
gust 1944. The one-year delay in mass
production brought the MP44 (the
nomenclature was changed in 1944
from MP43 to MP44 for unknown
reasons) into the war too late to play a
real role on the battlefield. To publicize
its role in the assault, the weapon was
redesignated as the StG44 ( Sturm-
gewehr —Assault Rifle) with great fan¬
fare and publicity late in 1944.
The StG44 is gas-operated without
a regulator and features a gas block
and sheet-metal gas tube mounted on
top of the barrel. It fires from the
closed-bolt position. The bolt locks by
tilting downward at the rear and en¬
gaging a locking shoulder fastened to
the bottom of the receiver just aft of the
magazine well. The rear of the bolt is
hook shaped on the top and faces for¬
ward. This arrangement interfaces with
another hook under the rear of the
piston extension, facing back. When
gas moves up through the barrel’s vent
and strikes the piston’s face, the two
hooks engage, lifting the bolt up and
rearward. The piston is permanently
attached to the piston extension. So is
the retracting handle (located on the
left side of the receiver) which recipro¬
cates with each movement of the bolt/
piston group. The piston shaft has 11
radial fins to the rear of its head. The
gas operation is of the iong-stroke
type.
The machined bolt is serial-
numbered to the rifle and was prob¬
ably hand-fit for correct headspacing.
The spring-loaded extractor pivots on
a removable pin. As the bolt must rise
and drop during unlocking/locking, the
ejector groove is large to permit clear¬
ance by the ejector which is fixed to the
interior of the receiver above the rear
of the magazine well. The firing pin is
not spring-loaded. Instead of being
struck directly by the hammer, a large¬
faced plunger mounted on the bottom
portion of the piston extension does
the job. This plunger cannot reach the
rear of the firing pin unless the bolt is
completely locked. By this means, fir¬
ing out of battery is prevented.
As the bolt group moves rearward, the
empty case is extracted and thrown out
the ejection port cut into the right side of
the receiver, cocking the hammer during
the bolt’s rearward stroke. The port has a
spring-loaded dust cover.
The single recoil spring is partially
housed in the buttstock. There is no
buffer. On the forward stroke, the com¬
pressed recoil spring drives the bolt/
piston group forward, stripping a round
from the magazine and chambering it.
The piston and its extension continue to
move forward after the bolt reaches the
limit of its forward travel. At this time a
cam on the piston extension forces the
rear of the bolt downward against the
locking shoulder.
That’s all quite conventional but 40
years ago, the StG44’s .stamped-sheet-
metal receiver was not. Reinforcement
ribs, as well as the bolt/piston exten¬
sion guides, were pressed into the re¬
ceiver body to which other compo¬
nents were pinned and welded. The
16.5-inch, four-groove barrel, with a
right-hand twist, was pinned to the re¬
ceiver body.
The laminated wood buttstock has
no buttplate, but there are sheet-metal
Continued on page 78
30 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
KAUFMAN’S WEST ARMY & NAVY GOODS • ORDER TOLL FREE 1 -800-545-0933 — CALL MON-SAT; 9:00-7:00 (Mountain Time)
BATTLE DRESS UNIFORM (BDU)
Originally worn in the jungle of Vietnam, the general
features of the GI combat battle fatigues are as
follows:
Pants-cut full for complete freedom of movement
these feature drawstring cuffs and adjustable pull tab
waists. For maximum utility, they are constructed
with 6 pockets, 2 of which are large bellowed cargo
pockets, on the thigh.
Shirt/Jacket —also cut full, these rugged versatile
fatigues feature 4 pockets (2 breast pockets and 2 huge
bellowed hip).
Sizes— military waist sizes are XS, S, M, L, XL.
Length sizes are regular and long. Not all
length sizes are available in a particular style. For
best fit, please tell us your waist, chest, inseam anj
height and we’ll try to find the right size for you.
Remember that jungle fatigues fit completely different
than a pair of jeans.
Woodland Camouflage
Pattern BDU’s-(SESSIS3
These 50% cotton, 50% nylon fatigues are the latest
issue to all services. In these Woodland BDU’s the
military has combined complete utility and freedom
of movement into garments made to last for years of
hard wear.
The fabric combination of breathable, comfortable
cotton combined with the nylon seems to make them
indestructible. The seat and knees in the pants, and
the elbows in the jackets have been reinforced. The
bellows pockets are even roomier than the jungle
fatigues that were the predecessor to the BDU.
These are a best bet for the hunter, sportsman or
outdoorsman who wants clothing that he can depend
on season after season. Brand New.
Specify: Jacket or Pants $30.00/each; $57.5
Desert Camo Pattern BDU’s- te>awnjioiaf?D
These day desert pattern BDU’s are the current issue to the US Rapid Deployment Force
who have been trained for warfare in the Middle East. These are designed exactly like
the Woodland Camouflage Pattern BDU’s described above, complete with reinforced
knees and seat. Brand new. Specify: Jacket or Pants $34.00/each; $65,00/set.
Olive Drab (OD) Green Jungle Fatigues-
These were one of the first jungle fatigues used in Vietnam. tei stem ioi mm
They were phased out in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. These 100% cotton ripstop
fatigues are currently being manufactured under a government contract to the original
military specs. Brand new. Specify: Jacket or Pants $30.00/each; $57.50/set.
Tiger Stripe Camouflage Pattern BDU’s
These are made by a US Government contractor to military specs. The tiger stripe pattern
is true. They are reinforced as the Woodland Pattern BDU’s above. Regular lengths only
(no longs). 50% cotton 50% nylon.
Brand new. Specify: Jacket or Pants . •. $34.00/each; $65.00/set.
Solid Black BDU’s
A favorite of SWAT teams, these fatigues were manufactured in the US by a government
contractor to military specs. 50% cotton/50% nylon, these are reinforced as the GI Wood¬
land Pattern above. Regular lengths only (no longs). Brand new.
Specify Jacket or Pants $34.00/each; $65.00/set.
Urban Camouflage Pattern BDU’s -
A strikingly different camoulfage, our urban camo may be the SWAT alternative to the
solid black or woodland camo. The Urban pattern? Well, visualize a leaf or woodland
design with the colors being various shades of grey and solid black. Now you can under¬
stand why we say its a striking alternative to the uniforms you’ve seen.
Our Urban Camo BDU’s are durable, easy care 50% cotton/50% polyester fabric and
are manufactured in the USA to military specifications. So, the pants have a reinforced
seat and knees, the jacket has reinforced elbows. Also featured are: pull tab waist,
drawstring cuffs, covered buttons and the attention to every small detail which you’ve
come to expect. Brand New. Sizes: XS, S, M, L, XL.
Regular Lengths - Specify: Jacket or Pants.$34.00/each; $65.00/set
Long Lengths available in Pants only S, M, L .. Add $3.00
Woodland Camouflage Pattern BDU’s -
Lightweight, Hot Zone Wear -
100% cotton, Ripstop
One of the loudest complaints voiced by our troops during and after the US incursion
into Grenada was that the fatiques they were wearing were too heavy and warm. No
wonder - the GI Woodland BDU’s are half cotton/half nylon and constructed to be for
general use year-round. So, in a warm, humid climate they could seem almost oppressive
especially to troops pursuing an activity as strenous as fighting a war.
After Grenada the US military quickly designed lightweight BDU’s for wear in Warm
Climate Zones. Kaufman’s has secured an over-run of fatiques under consideration for
issuance to all troops. Our lightweight BDU’s are made in the USA (of course) by a
military contractor. They offer all the features of the Woodland BDU’s, standard
weight. That is, they are in the Woodland Camouflage Pattern and feature reinforced
knees and seat, pull tab waist, drawstring cuffs, quality construction, covered buttons,
etc. The light weight fatigues however are 100% cotton, woven in a ripstop design. So
they are Lightweight, cool and comfortable, yet very durable.
Presently our Warm Zone Lightweight Woodland BDU's are available only in regular
lengths (no longs). However, in lime long lengths may become available, so feel free to
call our Customer Service Department on our toll-free line to learn about our current in¬
ventory. Brand New. Specify: Jacket or Pants ---$30.00/eaeh; $57.50/set
Used Camouflage Jungle Fatigue Jackets -
We have a limited supply of used, leaf pattern camoflage
fatique jackets. These are the old style, used in Vietnam,
and so are in the 100 % cotton ripstop fabric.
All of the jackets we have on hand are size small. These used Camo Jungle Jackets are
Grade IPs which means each jacket has been repaired and some of the repairs are very
noticeable. However, each jacket is completely serviceable and we have cleaned them
after the repairs were made. Kaufman’s guarantees your satisfaction so you can buy with
confidence. Sizes: Small only. Length:
□ Short .....$9.75/each
□ Regular or Longs - (Note - longs are very limited. Advise us when ordering if we
may substitute a regular length if we are sold out on longs). $12.75/each
JOGGING SHORTS
Ours are stylish shorts made in the USA that feature a trim fit and fashionable good
looks. Perfect whether worn for a hard workout or as ti
SIZES FROM XS TO XL.
TELL US YOUR WAIST SIZE WHEN ORDERING.
The following shorts are 50% cotton, 50% polyester
....$6.50/each.
□ Woodland Camouflage Pattern
□ Desert Camouflage Pattern
□ OUw Drab (OD) Green
□ Khaki (tan)
Offer Good for this issue of Soldier of
Fortune Only!!!
To get sale price you MUST mention this
issue of Soldier of Fortune.
Offer good thru October 31, 1985.
iT
GENUINE GI
Distress Marker _
Rescue Strobe Light-
This is a high intensity strobe beacon which penetrates rain and fog
and is visible for distances up to 15 miles. Standard pilot survival
gear, this light is about the size of a pack of cigarettes ( 1 ” x 2 ” x
4‘/V’)yet it puts out a dazzling white flash (250.000 lumens) 50 times
per minute for up to 9 hours. The unit is waterproof and shockprool
Sold complete with case and 1 battery.$39,50/each.
□ Replacement Batteries for Strobe Light.
..... $10.75/each.
ALL ORDERS SHIPPED WITHIN 24 HOURS
SATISFACTION GUARANTEED
These "Bonnie Hats” are the real
thing!! Brand new, complete with
brass screened eyelets, cartridge holder hat
band (except the Desert Camo) and chin strap.
Specify size: S(7); M(7W); UlVi)\ XLC7V4).
□ Leaf Pattern camouflage, GI ripstop; 100 % cotton as used in Vietnam; Genuine
Jungle Hats -
US Military Issue -
GI . S14.00/each.
□ Woodland Pattern camo, army’s latest issue; 50% coiton/50% nylon Genuine
GI......$12.25/each.
□ Desert camouflage: just issued to the U.S. Rapid Deployment Forces. 50% cot¬
ton/50% nylon; Genuine GI. $12.25/each.
□ Otrve Drab (OD) Green; 100 % cotton GI ripstop as used in early Vietnam.
Genuine GI. $14.00/each.
The following jungle hats are our finest quality commercially made copies at
$7.00/each. Select:
□ Tiger Stripe Camouflage Pattern
□ Woodland Camouflage Pattern
□ Olive Drab Green (OD)
□ Desert Tan
□ Black
SHIPPING COST
Please include appropriate shipping costs from chart below with each order.
Amounts shown include costs of postage, packaging, insurance and handling.
Orders up to $ 10.00 .... ,. . $3.00
Orders from $10.01 to 20.00 . ... . 3.75
Orders from $20.01 to 35.00 . 4.50
Orders from $35.01 to 50,00 5.25
Orders from $50.01 to 70.00 ....... 6.25
Orders from $70.01 to 90.00 . 7 T 5
Orders over $90.00 .. ... ..... . g oq
Canadian Orders-Send Double Amount Indicated.
KAUFMAN’S WEST ARMY & NAVY GOODS
Dept. A39 1660 Eubank NE * Albuquerque, NM 87112
Call Toll Free 1-800-545-0933 or (505) 293-2300
RUN BETWEEN THE RAIN¬
DROPS. A novel by Dale A. Dye.
Avon Books, Dept. SOF, 1790
Broadway, New York, N.Y.
10019. Copyright September
1985. 336 pp. $3.50 U.S., $4.50
Canada. Review by James L. Pate.
As a topic for news, film and fiction,
Vietnam and its last war have risen,
fallen and risen again. A decade after
its precipitous defeat to the commu¬
nists brought a tyrannical “peace” to
the ravaged nation, Vietnam as a topic
for poetry, fictional and non-fictional
prose, drama and films has reached
floodstage. Indeed, it is much too soon
and we still are much too close to be
able to recognize any artistic highwater
mark as such.
As popular fascination recedes and
many works wash away with the falling
tide of memory, only a few of these
literary artifacts will remain on solid
ground to outlive the generation that
created the war and its art. The con¬
temporary literature that survives its
generation will do so because it uses
the Vietnam War as a canvas on which
to paint the agony and ecstasy of con¬
flict experienced by every man who
has ever fought for any cause in the
setting of any war.
Run Between the Raindrops will
live on as one man’s epitaph to a gen¬
eration because it captures so well the
pathos, the very personal struggles and
conflicts that characterized the lives of
thousands of people who left The
World to fight a war, and returned to
find that world and themselves unalter¬
ably changed in ways they had never
imagined. Dye, a career Marine and
writer who spent his first year after re¬
tirement as executive editor of Soldier
of Fortune before taking off for Holly¬
wood, has succeeded well with his first
book. Run Between the Raindrops
will always live because its war was
fought in the most personal terms. We
all recognize the man because he is us.
The curiosity about the book for the
professional soldiers and journalists
who have known Dye over the years is
that it is presented as fiction. It is actual¬
ly thinly veiled fact. The book chroni¬
cles the experiences of a Marine Corps
combat correspondent covering the
Battle of Hue City. Sergeant Dale A.
Dye was there, ostensibly doing just
that. But like Dye, the book’s pro¬
tagonist — coincidentally named D.A.
— was fighting inside himself a much
bigger battle than the savage house-to-
house bloodbath that raged around
him for days. He learns a very difficult
— almost fatal — lesson: One can’t run
between the raindrops and not get wet.
If you face the experience, you are
doomed to be changed by it.
Scheduled for R&R in Hong Kong,
D.A. hears about Big Trouble brewing
up around Hue City and links up in¬
stead with another Marine photogra¬
pher, an old buddy named Steve,
which happens to be the name of Dye’s
closest friend in Vietnam. As the battle
progresses, D.A. becomes increasingly
disturbed by Steve’s growing tendency
to pick up a gun to shoot gooks rather
than pick up his camera to shoot pic¬
tures. D.A.’s own internal fight is to
admit to himself that what he sees in
Steve bothers him most because it is a
perfect reflection of himself. It is a strug¬
gle of keeping some mental distance
between the insanity of the moment
and making a personal commitment to
do what has to be done.
Dye’s writing style is short, dipped
and punchy, much like the speaking
style of the grunt. It is primarily stream-
of-consciousness, and in some places
the reader has difficulty discerning the
difference between what D.A. is think¬
ing and what he is actually saying. One
gets the impression he often thinks out
loud. Dye’s writing in this first book —
like all wars and the men who fight
them — is markedly profane, but it is a
genuine profanity that in no way seems
out of context. Dye does a good job in
maintaining a high level of tension, one
that leaves the reader alternately feel¬
ing relieved and anxious.
The setting — the ancient walled
capitol of Hue with its heavily fortified
Citadel — is interesting in the context
of the Vietnam War. In a war in which
our enemy typically hit fast and hard
and melted away into the jungle, Hue
City represented a very fixed target.
And in a war characterized by uncon¬
ventional jungle guerrilla fighting, Hue
was an inch-by-bloody-inch battle of
attrition, conventional urban warfare
at its worst.
D.A. — and Dye — faced up to
some grim realities at the Battle for
Hue: “Is there a difference between
seeing a guy you don’t know blown
apart ... or shredded to death by a
mine and finding some dude you know
executed? Where’s the Old Buddy
Syndrome? This isn’t how you’re sup¬
posed to feel. Where’s the subtly
macho tear that’s supposed to trickle
down your cheek? Why aren’t you out
there vowing revenge on the heathen
enemy? Personal perimeter too tight
for that. Look behind all that bullshit,
man. Fact is, you’re fairly fucking
elated that it wasn’t you lying out
there.”
You don’t have to be a military
veteran, a scholar or a war correspon¬
dent to know that every war is the
same for the people who have to fight
it. Xenophon and Tolstoy and Mailer
and Dye are describing the same strug¬
gle. Xenophon wrote about the politics
of war, Tolstoy portrayed its epic ro¬
mance and tragedy, Mailer defines
modem warfare and politics on a per¬
sonal level and Dye tells us how it
tastes, how it smells, describes in detail
the awful sights and sounds. His story
takes us on an emotional rollercoaster,
like climbing into some souped-up
Amtrak that is his brain. To read Run
Between the Raindrops is to see the
world through the author’s eyes, to
hump the boonies of his brain for a
stunningly personal trip into the Battle
of Hue City. ^
32 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
T wisted
World of the
Master of hate,
Joseph Goebbels
was the intellectual
in the Nazi hierarchy
h\a Braun
secretly collected
candid photo¬
graphs of her
da\s with Hiller.
\A/e know the enormity of what hap-
▼ Ypened. But 40 years later, how the
Nazis grabbed power remains a compelling
drama of conspiracy, mob psychology and
behind-the-scenes maneuverings.
Now, in a tour-de-force of research, chill¬
ing narrative and eyewitness photographs,
Time-Life Books takes you into the dark
heart of Nazi power.
You’ll watch Hitler and his cohorts exploit
the chaos of the Depression. You’ll follow
the early power-plays of the Brown Shirts...
the fiasco of the Beer Hall Putsch.. .and
marvel that they got anywhere at all. Then
you’ll see how the tide of events turned the
Nazis’ way...
An archive of extraordinary pictures...
From dozens of sources have come the
insights, facts and rare photographs that tell
the story from inside Hitler’s labyrinth of
intrigue. The cast of characters is familiar. .
but never have their personalities been
observed in such vivid, accurate detail.
Goebbels, the astonishingly gifted propagan¬
dist. Himmler, bloodless chief of the SS.
Goering, Hitler’s onetime favorite. And
Martin Bormann, the faceless bureaucrat who
shouldered almost everyone else aside.
© 1984 TIME-LIFE BOOKS INC.
Examine The Nads for 10 days FREE!
From Hitler’s private world at the Berghof
to the Holocaust itself, The Nazis reveals how
it happened. This profusely illustrated, 208-
page volume is your introduction to World
War II, a series that has been acclaimed as
the major photo-documentary of the pivotal
episode of our century.
If you decide to keep The Nazis , pay just
$14.95 ($17.95 in Canada) plus shipping
and handling. You can then receive other
volumes in the series, one about every other
month, always for a free examination. Keep
just the books you want; cancel any time.
Each volume in the World War II series
Address_Apt_
City_
State/_ Zip 1 _
Province Postal Code
♦Prices subject to change.
All orders subject to approval.
offers the same wealth of unexpected infor¬
mation and wartime photography you’ll find
in The Nazis. Important reading you can
begin by sending for The Nazis right now.
3,000 war photos! 208 pages in each
9%" x 11%" hardcover volume.
If card is missing,
mail coupon to:
TIME-LIFE BOOKS
Time & Life Bklg.
Chicago, IL 60611
IBOOKSI
YES, I would like to examine The Nazis as my
introduction to World War II. Please send it to
me for 10 days’ free examination along with
future volumes under the terms described in the
accompanying ad. CGFB85
ittmei
LIFE
SOI 7 BOUNTY HUNTING
Burton Brings ’Em Back Alive
Text by Nate Taylor
Photos by David Bjorkman
Y OU won’t find them wearing a hip-
slung six-gun or tearing “Wanted —
Dead or Alive ” posters off the wall outside
the sheriffs office, but there are some suc¬
cessful bounty hunters working in America
today. They are intentionally hard to find.
While they work completely within the law
— most of the time — it doesn’t help their
business to become overly well-known.
That’s why I jumped at the chance to
accompany professional bounty hunter Bob
Burton on a case in Los Angeles. It’s not
every day you get to watch the stalking and
Many suspects become submissive when
they learn they are under arrest but others
do not want their freedom taken away.
capture of the world’s most dangerous and
elusive prey — a wanted man.
We were snorting scotch in a semisleazy
L.A. bar when one of Burton’s regular
snitches unexpectedly called with a tip on
the location of a fugitive Bob had been
tracking for some time. The guy was a
genuine prince. He had jumped bail on a
child-molestation charge and gone under¬
ground. Burton stood to make $2,500 if he
could nab the guy. It could get hairy. Back
in the hands of the law, this geek was bound
to do significant time.
In fact, Burton admitted he was feeling
bad vibes for a number of reasons. “We’ve
been drinking — which is against my policy
when I’m working — and we’re going down
into the jungle on a Friday night. Hell, the
police only go in there in unmarked cars
with two black-and-whites waiting on the
outside.” But $2,500 for a couple of hours’
work is hard to pass up, even if you have to
34 SOMMEIt OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
hang your ass on the line in one of L.A.’s
toughest ghettos to collect it.
Burton made a couple of stops to pick up
his bounty-hunting tools: a bagful of
assorted equipment and a certified copy of
the bail agreement between the bondsman
and the culprit. That piece of paper is the
bounty hunter’s warrant for making a
citizen’s arrest. With me riding shotgun in
his nondescript car, Burton decided to dis¬
pense with calling in his usual partner. He
seemed to think my size and military back¬
ground would be sufficient if we got into
trouble. I wasn’t so sure.
L.A. glitter faded to squalor as we en¬
tered the seamy side of town. Punks of
every possible persuasion war-danced in the
streets. Life down here is cheaper than a
dime-bag of smack. I could sense Burton’s
tension. He is a combat veteran Force Re¬
con Marine with enough savvy to under¬
stand these asphalt jungles are just as
dangerous as the ones he survived in South¬
east Asia.
Our destination was a bar on the ground
floor of a cheap hotel. When we had the
place in sight. Burton swung his car into a
littered curb about 100 yards from the en¬
trance. A couple of kids were squabbling
over a ball as we parked. They telegraphed
“outsiders in the area” by falling silent and
gawking at us. Alerted by the quiet, a
woman yelled for them to come inside and
flicked off her porchlight. It pays to be
paranoid in these mean streets.
We sat in the darkened car as Burton
reached in his kit-bag for a pair of binocu¬
lars. He would scan the area and watch for
his man to make a move. It would be stupid
for a bounty hunter to walk inside the bar
and start asking questions. His quarry
would be out the back and gone before Bur¬
ton’s eyes could adjust to the dim interior.
We were now on what legitimate cops
would call a stake-out. Don’t let TV mislead
you. It is not glamorous.
Burton says there’s not much glamor at
all in his chosen profession. He estimates a
bountyman spends 90 percent of his time in
the boring work of tracing a fugitive, eight
percent cooling his heels until just the right
moment for the arrest, and only two percent
feeling the adrenaline rush of contact. That
seemed to match my opinion of the time
most soldiers spend in combat.
“Our man’s supposedly subbing as a
dishwasher tonight.” Burton glanced at his
watch. “He should be out in 10 minutes.
We’ll just sit tight and hope he doesn’t dis¬
appear out a back door.”
On schedule a swarthy, skinny dude am¬
bled out the door of the bar and up the
sidewalk toward us. Burton didn’t need to
check the description. “There he is! I can
almost feel that cold cash in my fingers.”
While Burton studied the man’s moves
trying to determine when to spring the trap,
his man ducked into a waiting car. The
snatch would have to wait. Burton swung
into traffic concentrating on the tail lights of
the car that was apparently carrying the
fugitive home. We trailed the vehicle into a
The supreme bounty hunter, Ralph “Papa”
Thorson with Smith & Wesson Model .38
Bodyguard and High Standard 12-gauge
riot gun.
run-down housing project. It was full of
night people milling around and looking
mean. Burton shook his head and continued
to cruise. “We can’t stop here. We’d be
eaten alive.”
Toward the end of a cratered street, the
car we were tailing swung alongside a white
stucco house just beyond the projects. The
driver and our man disappeared inside car¬
rying a 12-pack. No lights went on but we
spotted their location by the eerie blue glow
of the TV screen. That probably meant we
were facing two-on-two. Burton thought,
but we spent the better part of an hour mak¬
ing sure no reinforcements arrived to join
the party.
Burton heaved a sigh and made a deci¬
sion. “We’d better go to it before condi¬
tions change. I don’t want them to get too
loaded. All we need is a belligerent drunk.”
He grabbed a flashlight and handcuffs. 1
didn’t ask about the suspicious bulge at his
waistband. If he wasn’t armed in a situation
like this, he had more guts than grey matter.
We approached the house, staying in the
shadows next to the walls. The crunching
sounds our feet made on the gravel drive¬
way sounded like the clank of tank tracks to
me. Burton paid little attention. Whatever
our targets were watching was apparently a
good show. At the screen door we spotted
two men sitting on a couch. The fugitive
was hypnotized by the TV. His buddy was
nodding at his side. No one else was in
sight.
Burton banged the door open and rushed
in, flicking the high-intensity beam of his
flashlight into the fugitive’s eyes. The guy
lurched off the couch and made a grab for
Burton. It was totally ineffective. He had
one hand in front of his eyes to shade them
from the intense beam of the flashlight and
Burton lightly side-stepped out of the way.
“You’re under arrest.” Burton made a
move that the LAPD would have loved and
grabbed the guy by his outstretched hand.
He spun him around then pinned him
against a wall. To make sure he stayed put.
Burton bent the captive’s arm painfully up
into the area of the shoulder blade. If the
fugitive didn’t realize he was in the bag at
first, h^ certainly did now. He hung his head
and relaxed against the pressure Burton was
applying. The snap of the cuffs signaled
end-of-message. Our man was in custody.
The racket had roused the culprit’s buddy
but he took one look at what was happening
and backed off quickly. The look in his eyes
told me he thought we were the heat.
“Cover me while 1 check him.” Burton
drew my attention from the second man and
handed over his flashlight. 1 kept one eye on
the other guy and hoped he wouldn’t figure
out my only weapon was the dazzling light.
Burton patted his man down like a police-
trained pro and turned up nothing more than
a pipe and a plastic bag full of dope. He
chuckled and tossed the paraphernalia on
the couch.
“You mind if we leave this for your bud¬
dy? I think you’re in enough trouble. Now
we’re going to take a little ride.” He
ordered me to get the car and I rushed out of
the house.
Cranking the engine I watched while Bur¬
ton and the handcuffed man backed outside.
He pushed his captive into the back seat on
the passenger side, strapping him in place
with a seat-belt and leaving his hands cuffed
at the small of his back. Burton slapped
restraints on the guy’s feet and crawled in
beside him. He reached in his pocket for the
papers he’d brought and snapped on a light
to show them to his captive. The guy
couldn’t believe he’d been bagged by some¬
one who was not a cop.
“You mean you’re just a bounty hunt¬
er?” They were the last words our child-
molester spoke before Burton marched him
into an L.A. precinct house for booking.
Bounty hunting as an American occupa¬
tion has changed little since the 1800s when
the wide-open spaces west of the Mississip¬
pi offered sanctuary to shootists, cattle rus¬
tlers and bank robbers. In those days a fugi¬
tive could get lost for a long, long time in the
rough, dusty frontier towns before a persis¬
tent bounty hunter caught wind of him.
When he was finally cornered, the badman
either surrendered at gunpoint or returned to
custody bleeding into the ground and slung
over his saddle.
These days the professional bountyman
must bring his quarry back to custody alive.
He may not kill the man or woman or rough
them up in any way if he expects to be paid for
his effort and avoid being charged with a crime
himself. It’s a frustrating profession and not
many stay with it unless they happen to be
hard-nosed businessmen. The modem man-
trapper rides the range in an air-conditioned
automobile and his trusty sidearm is usually a
telephone. Still, there is always the showdown
to make it all interesting.
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 35
A professional bountyman is legally an
agent of the bail bondsman who posted re¬
lease money for a defendant. If that defen¬
dant hits the ground at a dead run as soon as
he’s sprung instead of appearing at his hear¬
ing, the bail is forfeited. That makes bail
bondsmen very unhappy and they cheer
when they can get a good bounty hunter on
the trail.
It varies according to state law, but the
bondsman generally has between 10 days
and one year to find the man or lose his
money to the court. Most of them know at
least one reliable bounty hunter who will
prevent that by tracking down and arresting
the bail-jumper for a commission. That
means the hunter generally gets 20 percent
of the bail from the bondsman if he can
deliver the fugitive before the deadline set
by law.
Unlike policemen without iron-clad war¬
rants, the bounty hunter can enter a bail-
jumper’s home to arrest him. And there is
no requirement to read Miranda Rights
when taking the man into custody. It’s all
spelled out in a Supreme Court ruling ( Tain-
tor vs. Taylor , 1982) that states the bonds¬
man or his agent may “pursue him (the
wanted person) to another state; may arrest
him on the Sabbath; and, if necessary, may
break and enter his house for that purpose
.... it is likened to the rearrest by the
sheriff of an escaping prisoner.”
Despite the high-court ruling, it’s not
simply an open season for anyone who
thinks he’s bad enough to bag a wanted
man. The bounty hunter must be authorized
by the bondsman . If he fails to obtain that
authorization and makes an arrest, he could
be found guilty of kidnapping.
“When a guy jumps, the bondsman first
hopes the police will stop him on a routine
traffic matter, run his name through the big
computer in the sky and find out that he’s a
fugitive,” Burton says. “But when that
doesn’t happen, he begins to sweat. That’s
when he calls a bounty hunter.”
The first step is finding the fugitive. Most
bounty hunters prefer to let their fingers do
the walking before they drive out to check
the old neighborhood. With a few telephone
calls and the right technical information, a
bounty hunter can make a national sweep of
information — both public and private —
and net dozens of facts about a fugitive. The
work is mostly mental as the bounty hunter
tracks the jumper through residences and
jobs on his zig-zag path to elude detection.
Contacts — both those who know the
fugitive and professional informers — are
the lifeline of the bounty hunter. Snitches
become motor-mouths when they smell
money. Getting family and friends to pro¬
vide information requires a more imagina¬
tive approach.
“A bounty hunter is a chameleon, posing
as various people to get info,” Burton says.
“He has to jive with the low-lifers when
he’s chasing a drug dealer and drink with the
country club set at other times. I’ve posed as
a sympathetic minister, the jumper’s
brother and the jumper himself to get an
The control center in Thorson’s home is the
bar where people congregate to talk and
exchange information.
address, a phone number, any kind of lead.
“Wives and girlfriends talk when they
feel that the no-good bastard has left them
holding the bag. Sometimes they’ve put up
their house or paycheck as security for the
bail. Mothers have told me where to find
their sons because they ‘don’t want to see
the poor boy run for the rest of his life.’
Neighbors talk out of spite. The key is to
keep people talking until you find what but¬
tons to push.”
Later, when he’s located the target, the
bounty hunter will generally hire an impos¬
ing partner for $150 or so per day to help
with the pickup. Being a lone wolf is not
smart. Although bounty hunting seems like
an adult version of “cops and robbers” the
stakes are for keeps. Done correctly, the
arrest generally goes off without violent
hitches. The maximum extent of violence in
most arrests is a takedown or restraining
hold that allows the partner to clap on the
cuffs.
That doesn’t mean gunplay is unheard of
in the arrests made by bounty hunters.
Taken by surprise, fugitives often defend
themselves from what they think is a mug¬
ging. The bountyman needs physical prow¬
ess, appropriate tools and one or two part¬
ners who work well with him. It also helps if
all involved can handle their fists and other
weapons.
Ralph “Papa” Thorson, the subject of
the Steve McQueen movie The Hunter , has
more than 10,000 arrests to his credit —
Burton and Thorson close in on a suspect
with extensive door-to-door work.
most of them nonviolent. His reputation is
such that fugitives brag about being picked
up by Thorson. Yet Thorson is the first to
admit the unpredictability of a man on the
run makes every arrest potentially deadly.
“When you gc out to get someone,
you’re confronting the two most precious
things he has — his life and his liberty. You
had damn-well better be prepared for resis¬
tance,” Thorson says. “If you pull a gun, it
had better come out smoking.”
Bounty hunters as a group tend to play
down the dangerous aspect of their occupa¬
tion. Too much talk of weaponry attracts the
nuts with a chip on their shoulder and over¬
kill in their arsenal, they say. The best way
to stay alive is to be conservative and wary.
“I play it safe because I’m a stone cow¬
ard,” says Thorson. “That’s how I’ve
survived.”
Despite such reservations, most profes¬
sional bounty hunters rely on a fairly stan¬
dard arsenal in their work: automatic shot¬
guns, the Prowler Fouler impact gun, a Colt
.45 Government Model pistol like Thor¬
son’s, a S&W Model 38 Bodyguard and a
back-up boot-gun like the Brechia .22 LR.
The impact gun is a particularly useful tool
if the bounty hunter is allowed to employ it.
The weapon is illegal in some states. It
propels a small bag of buckshot at a high
rate of speed. The impact is like a solid
punch and will knock a man backward when
he’s hit in the chest. Usually the only dam¬
age is a minor bruise and a few seconds of
confusion during which he can be hand¬
cuffed. The drawback is that the gun fires
only once. People who employ it can’t
afford to miss.
The .45 Colt pistol — like Thorson’s
which has been modified with an ambidex¬
trous safety and all stainless-steel working
parts — is a particular bounty hunter favor¬
ite. Thorson spurns the use of anything
smaller since he discharged five shots from
a .38 into a berserk assailant only to have the
man keep charging.
“There are only two guns when you go
people-hunting: the .45 and the shotgun.
I’ve seen too many people shot with a .38 or
9mm who keep on going. I’ve never seen
36 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
anyone hit with a .45 who walked away,”
he says.
But in the hand of an unstable bounty
hunter, a gun is a liability for everyone
concerned. Bondsfnen, who are liable for
the actions of their agents, shun them. Other
bountymen want nothing to do with off-the-
wall manhunters.
“Weapons and aggressive behavior are
what these people offer. What they need is
sanity and maturity,” scoffs Thorson.
“Weapons are for self-defense in this busi¬
ness. And the courts’ mentality is that you
can’t shoot in self-defense until the other
guy shoots you first — twice.”
In one of Burton’s cases, a quick mind
rather than a smoking pistol saved the day in
a potentially violent confrontation. A Long
Beach snitch had informed on a fugitive
Burton was seeking. Although he was not
considered dangerous, the man had a his¬
tory of bizarre behavior. When he arrived at
the motel where the man was supposed to be
staying, Burton spotted his man’s car, a
beautiful Bentley covertible.
“I knocked at the guy’s room and here
came two rounds through the door, ’ ’ Burton
recalls. “We weren’t armed, so I motioned
my partner to go out and get the shotgun.
When he didn’t respond to anything I told
him after about 30 minutes, I got an idea.
“ Tm going downstairs and pump 12
rounds into your Bentley, Roberto,’ I
threatened. There was a long silence. ‘You
wouldn’t,’ he wailed.
“ ‘It’ll look like a Swiss Bentley when 1
get through,’ I promised him.
“ ‘I’ll triple the price of your reward,’ he
offered.
“That sounded good, but I couldn’t stop
there. ‘I want the fame, not the money,
Roberto,’ I answered.
“Finally, after I promised him that I’d
deliver him to the L. A. Police in his Bentley
and then keep it until he could make
arrangements for it, Roberto agreed to go.
He spent five years in the slammer and is
now a very influential leader of an ethnic
group.”
Like most independent contractors,
bountymen grab what they can during the
fat times and use the proceeds from the
previous case to finance the next. With an
estimated 300,000 bail-jumpers in New
York City alone, the occupation appears to
be a goldmine. An average take grosses
about $2,500, although the amount varies
greatly. And the net profit may be far less.
Travel, bribes and salaries eat into profits.
Burton knows one hunter who made
$78,000 on a single arrest. Beginning
bounty hunters may work for as little as
$400 just to get their feet wet.
Commissions begin at 10 percent and
may go up to 40 percent for a hazardous
arrest or one that requires travel — possibly
to Mexico. “Negotiation is in order,” Bur¬
ton suggests. “Sometimes the irate person
who put up the security for the bail will pay
up to 100 percent just to put the jumper
Continued on page 77
GETTING IN
That old Catch-22 about not being
able to get work until you’ve had experi¬
ence and not being able to get experience
until you’ve found work applies to boun¬
ty hunting in America. Police and court
records indicate there may be as many as
six million bail-jumpers at large in the
United States, but that doesn’t make
convincing a bail-bondsman to let you
work for him an easy proposition.
Very few will take a chance and
appoint someone they don’t know per¬
sonally or by reputation. The legal liabil¬
ity for wrongful arrest or use of exces¬
sive force is simply too great.
“The bondsman is looking for a
steady, mature individual who will do
the job simply and without fanfare. He’s
not looking for a nut with an arsenal or
an ego with a black belt,” Burton
advises in his book Bounty Hunter,
* ‘Gun-handling and martial-arts training
are great, but they should be com¬
plemented by good skip-tracing abilities
and an active imagination.”
The would-be bounty hunter who re¬
fuses to be discouraged by the odds may
find a first job as an apprentice to an
established professional working for ex¬
pense money only. If he’s very lucky
and inspires confidence, he may find a
bondsman who will entrust him with a
small, not-too-risky case. Many bonds¬
men look for those with a knowledge of
ethnic areas of a city or an ability to
speak the language of an ethnic group.
That will require tools. A car is a must,
preferably one that is large enough to
haul the fugitive to the precinct station
without cramping him in alongside you.
The rear passenger-side seat should be
equipped with a seat belt for buckling up
the fugitive and, if possible, leg
restraints.
Handcuffs are essential, along with a
flashlight, a reliable handgun, a shot¬
gun, a BB gun for plinking yard lights,
and perhaps an impact gun like the
Prowler Fouler.
The bounty hunter should have a good
working knowledge of the Penal Code of
the states he will be working in and a
copy of the bail agreement which gives
him the authorization to pick up the fugi¬
tive.
“This paper must be presented when
the fugitive is turned in to the precinct
station,” Burton says. 4 ‘Without author¬
ization to pick up the fugitive the bounty
hunter is considered a kidnapper. ’ ’
Skip-tracing is a major bounty hunt¬
ing activity. Having experience with
sources of information — both public
and private — and the willingness to
approach contacts is essential. A vivid
imagination may be an unlikely require¬
ment for the bounty hunter, but it sure
helps in being able to dream up schemes
Tods of the bounty hunter's trade. Wanted
posters, S&W Model .38 Bodyguard
back-up gun, Brechia .22-LR boot gun,
miiltketled flashlight and handcuffs.
for weeding information from hostile
sources. Burton has gained information
on the pretext that he is peddling religion
door-to-door. He has also posed as the
landlord or a long-lost relative of fugi¬
tives he is seeking. He has even played
the role of the fugitive checking on an
unpaid bill to glean info from credit-card
companies and utilities. Burton has writ¬
ten to military sources for the fugitive’s
records. The bounty hunter is limited in
his quest for leads only by a lack of
ingenuity,
“A bountyman needs the intellect of
F. Lee Bailey, the personality of Woody
Allen, and the body of Mr. T,” Burton
says. The prerequisities are listed in
order of importance.
The ideal pickup occurs when the fugi¬
tive is alone and without a weapon. If
he v s on a lucky streak, the bountyman
will find his subject meek and submissive
when he informs the man he’s under
arrest and slaps on the cuffs. That hap¬
pens once in a while, but it’s certainly not
to be presumed. The objective must al¬
ways be to handcuff him with his wrists
behind his back as soon as possible.
“The fugitive should be thoroughly
checked for weapons,” Burton says. “I
was very embarrassed when I turned in
someone I thought was clean and the
receiving officer found a boot gun.”
With the average commission being
about 20 percent of the bail, the bounty
hunter stands to make a substantial
amount if he is well-known as a success¬
ful manhunter. However, like every
businessman, he has his overhead: trans¬
portation, insurance, equipment, bribes
and helpers. Each job must help finance
the next.
“And he should be sure he has a good
health-and-life insurance plan, ” Burton
adds. “In this business, that’s a must.”
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 37
SOF ADVENTURE
KAISER’S
GRAVEYARD
Dive on Scapa Flow
by Bob Michelson
F ASCINATED by the panorama
of the Orkney Islands, it was
hard for me to keep an eye on the
images building up on our radar
screen. I stood on the deck of the
Crombie as her master guided the
dive-boat through the thick fog of
Stromness Harbor and into the
rolling swells of Scapa Flow.
My crew of divers and another
bunch in a second boat out there
in the pea soup were bound to
take an underwater look at the
German High Seas Fleet which
rested in eternal silence under the
cold waters of Scapa Flow. This
was my second dive on the great
graveyard of the World War I
German Navy and I recognized the
fascination with this unusual
chapter in military history that my
fellow divers were feeling. As we
f
SMS Derfflinger, a German
battlecruiser, sinking 21 June 1919.
Metal Industries Ltd. refloated her in
1939, and she was scrapped in
1945.
searched for wreck echoes and our
companion boat in the fog that
shrouds the northern coast of
Scotland, I was glad to be in the
company of veteran divers. This
would not be an easy or
comfortable two weeks of diving.
We would be doing at least two
and sometimes three dives per day
regardless of the weather. And the
weather around Scapa Flow is
almost always awful.
We made contact with the other
dive-boat — the Sisters II — and
used our radar and echo-sounder to
guide her into position over a
sunken German warship. We were
20 minutes from the first dive and
everyone scrambled to do
double-checks on equipment. Only
the youngest and hardiest in our
party were going to brave the cold
water of Scapa Flow in wet-suits.
Most of us were slipping into
dry-suits and wondering about the
shock we could expect from water
that rarely rises above a
temperature of 14 degrees C even
at the height of summer.
Most of the divers on the
international team 1 was leading
were used to such things from
frequent activity in the North Sea
and the Baltic. It was more
pleasant to contemplate the
history of the great naval armada
that lay beneath the waves in
38 SOMHFll OF lOllTlNF
SEPTEMBER 85
EXPATRIATE DIVER
Bob Michelson, 41 t grew up
along the coastline in Mas¬
sachusetts and Connecticut,
where he was always fascinated
by the sea and marine life. After
high school he completed studies
in gourmet cooking and hotel/res¬
taurant management at the Culi¬
nary Institute of America. Never
one to get in a rut. Bob then de¬
cided to enlist in the U.S. Army
He served most of his four-year
hitch as a communications spe¬
cialist for the Army Security
Agency in Frankfurt, West Ger¬
many. With the exception of J 5
months after his 1967 dis¬
charge,the former sergeant has
lived since then in West Germany
Now a computer programmer for
a publishing firm. Bob ionic up
SCUBA diving in 1970 He and hi %
r
The authorBob till*
diving, ih# Scan* Ffow-
wlle, Elbe, have dived like Carib¬
bean, the Mesiltenancau, ihe 8* I
He and the Red Thou photo*
graphs have appeared in unions
German, British and \ I S dMdne
magazines SOf welcome* Boh
aboard.
Diver looking over the bow section of
the F-2 with its 105mm deck gun where
it lies on its port side.
Scapa Flow, once the homeport of
Great Britain’s mighty North
Atlantic Grand Fleet.
At the turn of the century,
Germany’s industrial and military
might increased, giving her the
incentive to join in the European
scramble for colonial possessions
around the world. Determined to
break Britain's control of European
and African waters in 1898 and
again in 1900. Germany passed
naval construction laws. The
German naval bill of 1900 called
for Germany to ”have a battle fleet
so strong that even the adversary'
possessing the greatest sea power
will attack it only with grave risk
to herself.”
So began the first arms race of
the 20th century which focused on
the seapower of Great Britain and
Germany. By the outbreak of WWI,
Britain still had the upper hand
over Germany — more tonnage,
more men and more ships. But the
Kaiser’s sailors had the edge in
firepower. The few sea
engagements fought between
German and British ships proved
that conclusively. But firepower
was not enough and the British
managed to hold the German fleet
at bay by bottling it up in its
homeports under heavy blockade.
As the war drew to an end. the
morale of German- sailors was at
an all-time low. The gloom and
frustration was intensified by the
news that Germany's allies were
collapsing like bowling pins
forcing the government to ask for
an armistice on 4 October 1918.
As the Allied powers drew up plans
of
to
a
and.
for the armistice, they agreed ihat
the potentially powerhifl German
fleet should be interned in a
neutral harbor until the final
peace treaty was signed. That
would involve neutralizing a fc^rce
of 10 battleships, six battle
cruisers, eight light cruisers, 5^)
destroyers and all the U-boats jin
the Gentian Navy.
It was a tall order that was
refused by most neutral countries
of Europe, The combined staff
the Allied admiralties decided
hold the deadly U-boat fleet in
series of English ports while the
surface vessels would be interr ed
in Scapa Flow under the watchful
eyes of the British Fleet comm}
Haphazardly, but with
remarkable speed, the ships w£re
made ready for their voyage into
internment from their home pcirts
of Wilhelmshaven and Kiel. Gun
parts, gunnery control equipment,
range-finding apparatus,
ammunition and small arms w&re
removed from the ships and piled
on the docks. The advanced
equipment which had helped tjie
Germans attain unsurpassed
standards in naval gunnery was
flung carelessly onto the concrete
docks or overboard into the
harbor. Stores and supplies for| the
internment crews were loaded bust
as the last stages of disarmament
— the removal of the
breech-blocks and wireless
equipment — was completed. The
German surface fleet was about to
become an ignoble prisoner of jwar.
With only minimum crews, the
ships got underway on 19
November 1918 — destination: the
Firth of Forth, off the coast of
Edinburgh, Scotland. At 0830 bn
21 November, the fog along th^
coast lifted and the German fleet
Scapa Flow. The body of water is,
for all practical purposes, nearly
landlocked. There are no currents
in the flow so dive-boats generally
do not anchor on the wrecks. They
lower a marker buoy fastened to
80 meters of line with a piece of
scrap-iron fastened to the other
end. A slip-knot holding the
scrap-iron allows the recovery of
the line if it becomes snagged In
the wreck. During the dive, the
boats circle the site and stand by
to pick-up divers when they
surface. With no currents to worry
about, divers simply ascend to the
surface after the alloted
Author's wife prepares to enter the
wreck of the German destroyer V-83.
steamed into the Firth of Forth
between waiting lines of Allied
vessels. The official surrender was
completed when the British teams
had inspected each German ship
and confirmed that the
disarmament conditions had been
fulfilled. About an hour before
noon. Admiral Beatty signaled the
enemy ships, all of which were
flying the German battleflag at
their mains F "'The German flag will
be hauled down at sunset today
and will not be hoisted again
without permission. The German
Fleet will proceed to internment in
Scapa Flow.”
An announcement from our
skipper that we were over the
wreck of the German ship
Brummetr a 4,500-ton mine-laying
cruiser brought me back to the
present. A few factors determine
how wTeck-diving is conducted in
bottom-time and bob around on
the surface until the boat spots
them and makes the recovery.
On the first pass over the buoy,
the first two divers — Wolfgang
and Michael — took a long stride
Marine life on a cannon barrel grows
even in Scotland’s cold waters.
/
out through the opening in the
gunwale, splashing into the gray
water of Scapa Flow. With a
practiced heave on their 16mm
movie camera in its underwater
housing and two 500-watt lamps
attached to a stabilizing wing, they
were ready to descend. I followed
two other divers into the cold
water. As we got our bearings, 1
raised my fist with the thumb
pointing down — we let the air out
of our dry-suits and sank beneath
the surface.
It was a long, slow descent and
the blackness of the water
prompted me to think again about
the strange situation which had
brought the German Fleet to the
bottom of Scapa Flow.
The warships whose guns had
roared defiance at the Battle of
Jutland in 1916 stood disarmed
and rusting in Scapa Flow at the
end of World War I. The Royal
Navy’s battle cruiser force was
"stationed in this natural harbor of
some 80 square miles surrounded
by islands on all sides. They stood
guard on the defeated German
sailors manning emasculated
ships. It was not pleasant duty,
either for the British tars or the
German sailors who grew restless
as the internment process dragged
on. Discipline among the German
sailors deteriorated as days turned
Into weary months while
politicians on both sides worked
on what would become the Treaty
of Versailles. The cold, raw, wet
winter of the North Atlantic
depressed the German crews who
were not allowed ashore for any
reason.
Rebellious German sailors
hoisted a red flag aboard one of
the interned warships on 31 May
1919 and the German commander.
Admiral Ludwig von Reuter,
convinced the British to reduce the
internment crews by an additional
40 percent to avoid further
incidents. He had something other
than simply keeping the peace on
his mind.
Realizing he was under less
threat from the reduced force of
the British 1st Battle Squadron
which had been tasked with
guarding the interned German
Fleet by May 1919 and convinced
that his ships would be seized by
the Allies once the armistice
Diver displays “Dead-Eye," a
cherished souvenir found on older
ships.
||
ThttNu twin 37mm ^nli-«iirrrdf( guns
no longer pose threat as diver dities
uret' k.
period ended, Admiral von Reuter
planned a desperate gamble to
keep the vessels from enemy
hands. He set into motion a plan
which he had developed when the
smaller 1st Battle Squadron had
taken over the guarding
responsibilities in May 1919. On
17 June — five days before the
armistice expired at noon on the
21st — the German admiral
ordered preparations on all ships
for a scuttling which would take
place two hours before the
deadline.
Von ReuteT could not bear the
thought of the disgrace that the
German Navy would suffer if the
British were allowed to take over
his fleet without any resistance.
Since he was allowed to
communicate with the vessels
under his command, there were
few difficulties with coordinating
the operation.
On the morning of 20 June the
British commanding officer,
Admiral Freemantle, learned that
the Allied council had postponed
the deadline for the armistice for
two days until the 23rd. He
promptly ordered his 1st Battle
Squadron to sea on the morning of
21 June for tactical exercises- The
German fleet was left practically
unguarded except for a few small
boats with parties of lightly armed
sailors aboard. It was a fortunate
occurrence for von Reuter who was
never informed about the two-day
postponement. In the absence of
contrary orders from Germany, he
ordered the scuttling of his fleet to
commence at 1120.
At that hour, sea-cocks and
watertight doors were opened or
smashed with hammers to prevent
Exploring a hatchway lead in y info
one of the German ships scuttled off
northern Scotland,
SEPTEMBER S&
42 Sit . . iM tURII M
them from being re-closed. Doors,
hatches and portholes were left
open to hasten sinking while small
boats were put over the side to
evacuate the German crews. By
noon, the Friedrich der Grosse and
many of the other big ships were
beginning to list and all the
German warships had reflown the
Imperial ensign. That event caused
the British port commander to
signal Admiral Freemantle at sea.
At 1220 the message 4i German
battleship sinking” was flashed to
Freemantle’s flagship in the
Pentland Firth some eight miles
away.
The fleet exercise was swiftly
canceled, but the ships of the 1st
Battle Squadron — arriving back at
Scapa Flow around 1430 — were
too late to do anything but watch
the German Fleet sink. In the
towns and villages scattered
around the flow the people of the
Orkneys watched in awe as one
ship after another of the Kaiser's
mighty fleet settled in the water,
turned keel-up, drifted toward
shore, grounded or disappeared
forever beneath the waters of
Scapa Flow.
It is difficult to see how the
British could have prevented the
scuttling once the seacocks were
opened. The few small British
vessels and launches already in
Scapa Flow were helpless,
although they did fire at the
German Fleet in an effort to
compel the evacuating crews to go
back and save the listing warships.
The captain of the battleship
Markgraf and nine others were
killed in the shooting, which only
added to the confusion.
All five battle cruisers went
down, as did 10 of the 11
battleships. Only the newly
completed Baden failed to sink
and beached in shallow water. Half
of the eight light cruisers sank,
while the other half were beached.
Of the 50 destroyers, four were
partly flooded, 14 were beached,
and the remaining 32 sank. Von
Reuter’s scuttling operation had
been successful. It was all over by
1700 and 400,000 tons of metal
and machinery worth 100 million
pounds sterling had been sent to
the bottom of Scapa Flow.
In a spectacular salvage
operation that lasted from 1924
until 1939, all but three
battleships, four light cruisers and
three destroyers were retrieved for
scrap. The remaining 10 ships and
various other wrecks in the flow
were going to keep divers like us
busy for a long time.
With visibility underwater
averaging 10 to 12 meters when
the sun shines, we were almost on
the first wreck before it came into
view. We noted a dark shadow
which seemed to loom upward
from the green wall of the sea
water. As we continued to
descend, more and more lines
began to take on recognizable
shapes. My heartbeat peaked as I
felt my swim-fins touch the wreck.
The Brummer lay on her
starboard side and our line anchor
had landed on the upper port side
about three meters back from the
bow. I recognized a cleat on the
edge of the deck with mooring
cables still neatly wound around it
and the anchor spill in the bow.
The anchor chain, running out
through the spill, was hanging over
the edge of the wreck and
disappeared in the emptiness
below.
The three of us gathered together
to check our gear once again, and
after photographers made sure our
cameras were functioning, we
finned over to the edge and
dropped down over the side. With
the deck of the Brummer rising
above us like a wall on our right
side, we started to make our way
along the wreck toward the stem.
I was immediately overwhelmed
by the size of the wreck, forgetting
everything from the year before.
The Brummer is only 490 feet long
and 50 feet wide so orientation
wasn’t difficult. My buddies were
in for a surprise later on when we
reached the battleships lying
keel-up in 160 feet of water. They
are more than 600 feet long, 105
feet wide and some six times
larger than the cruisers. These
behemoths are as big as a small
city and you have to explore them
a block at a time.
I was surprised to find the
wrecks in such good condition.
Since only the flood valves were
opened, the ships suffered little
damage. The wrecks are wreathed
with the typical growth of North
Atlantic waters, mainly anemone
and dead-man’s hands. They are
free of any kelp growth at this
depth.
The three of us were spaced out
one above the other as we moved
along the deck. Ahead loomed a
hatchway leading into the
blackness of the ship’s interior.
Although we had agreed not to
enter the wrecks, I couldn’t resist
the temptation. I swam into the
hatchway and followed the ladder
into the lower decks area, knowing
that as long as I kept one hand on
the ladder I’d have no problem
finding my way back to the main
deck.
The ladder ended abruptly two
decks later and as 1 scanned the
immediate area with the spotting
Continued on page 86
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLI) I Ell OF FORTUNE 43
SOF REWARD
P$Y-OPS
Buying Out
the Bad Guys
by Robert K. Brown
s?%'
«r. : ' ,
Last February I offered $100,000 to the first
Nicaraguan aircrew that would deliver an
Mi-24 (NATO designation Hind) to a
non-communist country. Since that
announcement, the private sector of the
United States has rallied and chipped in an
additional $900,000. Not one cent of this
collection is government money. Every dollar
comes from private citizens and private
business. American citizens are offering $1
million to the first Nicaraguans who fly a Hind
helicopter to freedom.
,,T ‘’ ;&.■ 4.V •• ? .v' ]
M ONEY makes the wheels go around
in the capitalist world, but there is no
rule that prevents cold cash from getting
results in communist countries, too.
Everybody likes money and the U.S.
military has often been quick to sprinkle
some around in an attempt to grease the
wheels of progress. Perhaps the most high-
profile plot involved paying rewards to
communist pilots who defected with their
aircraft. It often worked, and military in¬
telligence found itself in the possession of
some of the most sophisticated planes in the
communist bloc’s arms inventory.
The Korean War provided the first oppor¬
tunity to try bald faced bribery on the com¬
munists. U.S. military intelligence offered
$50,000 to any North Korean pilot who
would turn his aircraft to American author¬
ities in South Korea. The first pilot to defect
would get a hefty bonus — an additional
$50,000.
Screaming over Seoul on 21 September
1953, the first North Korean defector took the
chance and put his plane down in South
Korea. He walked away to collect his
$100,000. The U.S. quickly granted the pilot
political asylum and South Korean President
Syngman Rhee offered him a job as an aircraft
design researcher for the military.
While the U.S. military found it useful to
get hold of communist MiGs, they had a
more important motive for offering the re¬
wards. The communists don’t particularly
like losing their aircraft, but they are even
more concerned about the propaganda de¬
feat that hits them every time a pilot defects.
Washington reasoned that if a few pilots
gave up the fight and turned over their
planes, the communists might tighten up on
military flights over South Korea. It
worked. Enemy air strikes declined as the
North Koreans scrambled to find a way to
keep any more of their pilots from changing
sides.
American money had bought results.
Korea wasn’t the only theater of operations
for Washington’s reward scheme. In early
1953, Washington had also offered $50,000 to
any communist pilot who flew his MiG to a
neutral country and turned it over to the au¬
thorities. Results came quickly.
On 6 March 1953, a Polish pilot flew his
MiG-15 into Bonholm, Denmark and asked
for political asylum. He got it and NATO
got a chance to look at what was then the
Soviets’ hottest aircraft. Not surprisingly,
the MiG proved to be less of a wonder
weapon than had been predicted. Most U.S.
planes were more advanced.
A second MiG flew NATO’s way on 21
September of that same year when another
Polish pilot nosed his plane into a Danish
airport. This one proved to be more of a
prize, though — it had more sophisticated
electronics and weapons systems on board.
Again, cold cash had proved more powerful
than ideological dogma.
Communist pilots haven’t always been
lured from behind the Iron Curtain by the
promise of wealth. Sometimes all it takes is
good old-fashioned common sense. That’s
all it took to give the U.S. an unexpected
opportunity to dissect the Soviet Union’s
most advanced fighter plane to date — the
MiG-25 Foxbat. Streaking low under
Japanese radar on 6 September 1976,
Lieutenant Viktor Belenko touched down at
Hakodate Air Base and turned his plane
over to the military authorities. The U.S.
immediately gave Belenko political asylum
and began work on dismantling the Foxbat.
The Soviets’ most advanced fighter
proved to be more hype than technology. As
before, it was not as sophisticated as its
U.S. counterparts and taught American sci¬
entists little they didn’t already know. But
the Soviets were apparently concerned
about the whole affair. The Kremlin
vociferously demanded the return of their
property, citing their “inviolable right’’ to
protect military secrets. Think about that
one for a few moments.
Our government has not tried to bribe
communists into defecting recently. But
some people in the private sector think that
the system works and it’s about time to use it
again. Soldier of Fortune Magazine has
backed talk with action on a number of
occasions and the most recent offer hopes to
land an Mi-24 Hind — Moscow’s top-of-
the-line attack helicopter — in friendly
hands. Nicaragua has recently received 12
of these highly efficient ground support air¬
craft and that may bode ill for the contras.
Without adequate anti-aircraft weapons, the
Hinds could make life miserable for the
freedom fighters. But if a Nicaraguan pilot
turns one of these killing machines over, the
communists might think twice about play¬
ing around on neighboring borders.
The money's right — $1 million will go
to the first chopper jock that can get his bird
out of Nicaragua. So let the Big Wheels in
Managua beware — SOF wants a Hind. ^
44 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
“ONE CALL GETS IT ALL”
The Fifth Annual
M
ODERN DAY MARIN
FORCE IN READINESS
Military Exposition
August 1345, 1985
Sheraton Washington Hotel
Washington, D.C.
The Fifth Annual Modern Day Marine-Force in Readiness Military Exposition represents the world's
largest display of weapons, equipment, supplies, services and technology essential to amphibious warfare
operations. The 1985 theme, “One Call Gets It All”, salutes the Navy^Marine Corps team of our nation's
amphibious forces—capable, strong and ready* The theme represents that one call which can speed a
Marine Amphibious Brigade, the basic fighting unit of the Marines, anywhere in the world with the
necessary equipment and supplies for 30 days of sustained combat.
Sponsored by
The Marine Corps
League
Hosted by
Capital Marines
Detachment
SEPTEMBER 85
We Welcome Your Participation
For More Information,
Call or Write:
Marine Corps League Exhibit Company, Inc.
933 North Kenmore Street
Suite 401, P.O. Box 10807
Arlington, VA 22210-1807
(703) 524-5262
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 45
SOF IWO
REUNION
Finally, a friendly reunion between former
enemies.
F ORTY years ago the war with Japan
ended, but not before life and limb were
sacrificed in one of the bloodiest battles of
the Pacific Theater. On Iwo Jima, the price
of victory was stiff as U.S. Marines hurled
their might against the determined and forti¬
fied defense of the Japanese. During the
36-day battle, 6,000 Americans died and
17,000 were wounded. The outnumbered
STILL A MARINE
Staff Sergeant Hugh Hawthorne
serves with the Marine Corps Public
Affairs Office at Camp Smedley D. But¬
ler on Okinawa, Japan. He is an award¬
winning photojoumalist who has served
in Marine Corps assignments across the
United States, His wife, Chris, is also a
Marine assigned to public affairs.
Japanese defenders fared worse. Fifteen
thousand died and practically all the survi¬
vors were wounded. But on 19 February
1985, the anni versary of the first landing of
U.S. forces on Iwo Jima, the rocky island
would again earn its place in history as it had
40 years before. This time there would be no
casualties.
At 0800 hours, the Stars and Stripes and
the Rising Sun were hoisted simultaneously
at the Japan Self Defense Force airfield as
part of the normal morning routine. But this
day would be different. Proud veterans of
the Battle of Iwo Jima returned to the island
they once called a hell hole to attend the
“Reunion of Honor.” It would be the the
first time veterans of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th
Marine Division Associations and the
Japanese Association of Iwo Jima would
meet on the tiny volcanic island. And their
reconciliation was long overdue.
As they approached the tiny runway, the
WWII veterans were reminded of the island
as they left it 40 years ago. If their memories
served right, Iwo Jima had been stripped
and pulverized by the pre-invasion air and
naval bombardment. The island they re¬
membered was covered with calf-deep,
black volcanic ash and little else.
“We called the black sand ‘coffee
grounds,’ ” recollects veteran Bill
McGrath. “Whenever you took a step up
that beach you sunk into it and made very
little progress.”
But as the veterans stepped off the planes,
they were impressed with a startling differ¬
ence. Iwo Jima was green with thick, lush
vegetation. The veterans were amazed as
they stared out at the terrain, looking for
familiar features . . . Hill 382, Turkey
Knob, the Amphitheater, the Meat Grinder
— objectives so strongly defended, and so
fiercely taken.
The green Marine six-bys parked along
the flightline looked familiar to the veterans
as they climbed aboard for a dusty ride to the
site of the opening ceremony. As the the
trucks bounced ahead the vegetation fell
back to reveal the deserted invasion beach.
Forty years ago this beach, swarming with
landing craft, was divided into sections
which bore the names Red, Yellow, Green
and Blue. As always, the beach was black,
but not a trace of craft or equipment,
wrecked by the defender’s artillery barrage,
littered the terrain.
To the right they saw the sparkling blue
Pacific. Memories flashed back to an ocean
dotted with more than 900 American ships,
all commanded by Fleet Admiral Chester
Nimitz. But now, not a ship was in sight and
the waters looked almost too calm.
Mount Suribachi loomed ahead with the
Stars and Stripes and the Rising Sun waving
side by side on its summit. They had finally
reached the ceremony site, and in the shad¬
ow of Mt. Suribachi, the Americans faced
inland and the Japanese faced the ocean, as
both groups had done years ago. Between
them stood a veiled monument honoring
veterans of the Battle of Iwo Jima as well as
their fallen comrades.
The Star Spangled Banner commenced
the ceremony, followed by' the Japanese
national anthem. Representatives of the
veterans groups solemnly bade welcome to
all gathered. Buddhist sutras were followed
46 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
by a prayer by Rev. John Craven who
summed up the emotions of the veterans
perfectly. Rev. Craven landed on Iwo Jima
with the 4th Marines as a 29-year-old chap¬
lain.
“We have returned to this place, though
we vowed never to set foot here again. We
have returned to this place to relive the past
that has long pervaded our dreams and
haunted our sleeplessness. We have re¬
turned to honor fallen comrades whose
names we gave our sons. We come back of
compulsion, drawn by memories and loyal¬
ty deep and firm ... to make fast the bonds
that tie us to our dead ... for consumma¬
tion, our one last deed to do. Let all the
spirits who keep this place hear our foot¬
steps and give us comfort.”
Speeches followed the prayers and intro¬
ductions. These were led by Lieutenant
General Charles G. Cooper, commander of
Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, on behalf of the
Commandant of the Marine Corps, and
Vice Admiral Kenichiro Koga for the Japan
Self Defense Force. Eyes glistened with
tears at the eloquent reminder of their bitter
sacrifice. And no effort was made to forget
the fact that these men had once been mortal
enemies.
Lieutenant General Cooper read President
Reagan’s message to the veterans. “Spirit,
fortitude and bravery abounded on both
sides,” he read. “The historical accounts of
the battle tell us of the 36 days of fierce
fighting and the many thousands of lives
lost. Only you who survived know the true
toll in losses. You have given us a special
meaning for the word ‘courage,’ which is
embodied in the deeds of men engaged in
action for a cause which requires their utmost
loyalty and selfless dedication.”
The commemorative speeches over, all
present came to their feet and lifted their
eyes to the hill where a lone Marine bugler
sounded a doleful taps. Then the monument
was unveiled:
REUNION OF HONOR
On the 40th anniversary
of the Battle of Iwo Jima
American and Japanese veterans
met again on these same sands.
This time in peace and friendship.
We commemorate our comrades,
living and dead,
who fought here with bravery and honor,
and we pray together
that our sacrifices in Iwo Jima
will always be remembered
and never be repeated.
February 19, 1985
3rd, 4th, 5th Divison
Associations: USMC
The Association of Iwo Jima
Closing the ceremony, the Japanese sang
the Association of Iwo Jima hymn and were
answered by the Marines’ Iwo Jima hymn.
With a final ceremonial handshake, the
solemnities were disposed with and the
trucks and buses were waiting to shuttle the
veterans to historical and natural points of
interest all over the island. But no one
TOP: Christians and Buddhists offer
prayers ... “that our sacrifices on Iwo
Jima will always be remembered and never
be repeated.”
ABOVE: Veterans proudly display their
country’s flag as they dedicate the memorial
to all those, living and dead, who fought
with bravery and honor on Iwo Jima.
RIGHT: Iwo Jima veteran Donald J.
Michaud returns to Iwo Jima, this time in
peace.
budged. The consensus seemed to be,“Let
them wait.”
At first only a few of the boldest, most
outgoing veterans stepped out of the group,
Continued on page 82
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 47
SOF EL SALVADOR
WATERPROOF
WEAPONRY
Salvo Jungles Put Stainless
Steel to the Test
Text & Photos by Peter G. Kokalis
f
f
f
i|'
a m
Q
-—*—r
an
=J
H ANDGUNS have little relevance to the military COIN
ops conducted in El Salvador, or any place else for that
matter. The recent imbroglio over the U.S. XM9 trials was
largely overblown by gun writers and politicians, mostly
fashion victims who have seldom if ever suited up for the
field of battle. From Israel to Angola, when experienced
Left to right from the top, Randall LeMay .45 ACP, Walther
PPK/S .380 ACP, American Derringer .44 Special and Colt
Python .357 Magnum.
warriors dress to fight, the pistol often stays in the BOQ and
an extra water bottle gets snapped onto the web gear. The
48 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
pistol as a wardrobe accessory for the soldier on a long hump
isn’t that popular.
But with their increasing defeat in El Salvador’s rural areas,
communist terrorists again are inflicting bombings,
kidnappings and assassinations on towns and cities, bringing
handguns back into vogue. Brutal violence as a political
statement is once again an ever-present danger in the streets of
San Salvador. But when donning Jordache jeans and a Lacoste
shirt for a casual weekend stroll through the Metro Centro
shopping mall, toting an MP5 submachine gun seems just a
bit gauche .
As much as I like my Bagwell Damascus steel Bowie and
despite its artistic beauty, it’s a bit too personal for this
occasion. In such an urban setting, packing a piece just makes
more fashion sense.
Salvadorans carry just about every type of handgun you can
imagine. Yet in Central America — where 85 or more inches
of rainfall a year makes rust and corrosion a constant problem
— stainless-steel firearms are still relatively uncommon.
Recognizing the region as a great natural laboratory for testing
stainless-steel pistols. Editor Bob Brown heartily endorsed my
plan to test and evaluate four representative examples of what
has become almost a mania.
Two decades ago, Smith & Wesson introduced the
stainless-steel Model 60 Chiefs Special J frame revolver. The
pistola de acero inoxidable, as it’s called in Spanish, has
never been my choice. My objections largely centered around
the increased price, the galling problems which quickly
degraded trigger tuning, and its redundancy in most
environments.
Three years in El Salvador have caused me to rethink my
position on stainless steel. I have seen new handguns reduced
to rusted hulks in less than a year — the finest bluing pitted
until it resembles the volcanic Salvadoran landscape and
factory nickel spalled off in large flakes.
Then I learned that oxide processes are being developed to
darken bright stainless-steel surfaces on weapons. SOF chose
four pistols of the more than 100 now available to represent
state-of-the-art in stainless: the Colt Python revolver (.357
Magnum), the Randall LeMay (.45 ACP), the Walther PPK/S
(.380 ACP) and an American Derringer (.44 Special).
WALTHER PPK/S
The double-action Walther PP (Polizei Pistole) was
introduced in 1929. While not the first double-action
self-loading pistol, the Walther PP soon earned its mark as the
very best. Possessing the same dissassembly system as the
earlier Model 8, it was still quite revolutionary for its time.
Safety was the keynote. The Walther could be carried with a
round in the chamber and the hammer down without any
possibility of an accidental discharge. Operating by unlocked
blowback, only the first round needed to be fired
double-action. A loaded-chamber indicator in the form of a
pin which protrudes from the rear of the slide was an added
safety feature (not found on models in .22 LR).
The safety lever is mounted to the left side of the slide. It
points forward in the Fire position and downward, covering a
red dot, for Safe, If applied while the hammer is cocked, it
will lock the firing pin and drop the hammer onto the safety
lever shaft which prohibits firing. Somewhat disconcerting,
this should always be done with the pistol pointed in a safe
direction. When the safety lever is again pushed forward to
the Fire position, the trigger will jump forward to the
double-action position. A disconnector prevents firing more
than one round at a time, although a few experimental
selective-fire models were produced.
The slide remains to the rear after the last shot. There is no
slide stop lever. After a fresh magazine has been inserted, the
slide must be pulled back by hand and then released. The
single-line box-type magazines hold seven cartridges in
calibers .32 ACP and .380 ACP and eight rounds in caliber
.22 LR. Magazines are of two types — one with a metal
lloorplale, the other with a plastic finger extension. The
ABOVE: American Derringer .44 Special: ‘A nostalgic sheep in
wolfs clothing.’
BELOW: ‘Mercenary’ shoulder holster with Randall LeMay .45
ACP pistol worn by author while visiting Salvadoran A-camp.
BELOW: Salvadoran Army sergeant test fires the Randall LeMay
.45 ACP stainless-steel pistol.
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 49
ABOVE: Walther PPK/S .380 ACP shows slight muzzle flash in
full recoil.
BELOW: SAS-type leg holster with parachute web belt and Colt
Python .357 Magnum.
BELOW: Test-firing the Walther; fame from GI booty and James
Bond movies.
magazine release catch is located on the left side of the frame
to the rear of the trigger.
The PPK (Polizei Pistole Kriminal) version was created in
1931. While using the basic PP mechanism, the weight,
overall length and magazine capacity were all reduced. The
steel back strap of the frame's grip was eliminated. One-piece
wraparound molded plastic grips were substituted.
By the end of World War II about 375,000 of both models
had been manufactured at the Zella-Mehlis factory, most in
caliber 7.65mm (.32 ACP). Many thousands were brought
back to the United States by returning G.I.s. They were
highly prized trophies (especially the PPK), along with Lugers
and Walther P38s. Fritz Walther continued to manufacture the
PP and PPK after the war through the French firm of
Manufacture de Machines de Haut-Rhin (known as Manurhin
since 1950). In 1961, Walther moved to a new plant in Ulm,
West Germany and began producing under the name Carl
Walther Sportswaffen Fabrick. Most of the West German
production was imported under the Interarms logo.
Importation of the PPK version ceased in 1968 when it
failed to meet the BATF’s factoring system. These regulations
have blocked the importation of many other fine handguns —
from the Browning .25 ACP pocket pistol to the 9mm Glock
17 (recently rejected.) The BATF’s rather arbitrary point
system resulted in the creation of the PPK/S, which is
basically a PPK slide and barrel mated to the PP frame. This
satisfied the imperial wizards and sales have remained brisk
— a function of the excellent design and the public’s exposure
to G.I. booty and James Bond movies.
Two years ago, Interarms (Dept. SOF, 10 Prince Street,
Alexandria, VA 22313) introduced a stainless-steel version of
the PPK/S in caliber .380 ACP (9mm Kurz). The pistols are
manufactured for them by Ranger Mfg. in Gadsden, Alabama.
A version in caliber .22 LR is about one year away.
When the Model 60 was introduced by Smith & Wesson 20
years ago, very little besides 300-series stainless steel was
available to gun makers. While still used to make tableware, it
cannot be successfully hardened by heat treatment. This caused
triggers and sears to wear, in some cases after only a few
hundred rounds. The new 400-series stainless steels can be
hardened to the same levels as the ordinary carbon steels.
Interarms has taken full advantage of this new technology, as the
various components of the SS PPK/S are fabricated from three
different 400-series steels — 410, 416 and 420. The trade-off is
that 400-series steels will discolor under extremely adverse
conditions.
The top of the slide has been given a matte finish, the
remainder of the slide and frame an attractive high gloss
polish, all of which contrasts nicely with the black plastic
grips. The magazines provided to me were electroless nickel
plated. In the future, the furnished magazines will be stainless
steel. Some consider the reflective qualities of stainless-steel
firearms to be a serious compromise when tactical
concealment is necessary. But handguns usually are concealed
and/or holstered until used. Their bright surfaces thus are of
less consequence than on a rifle or shotgun.
But for those still bothered by this, stainless-steel satin
black finishes are available from Clinton River Gun Service
(Dept. SOF, 30016 South River Road, Mount Clemens, Mich.
48045) and others.
The PPK/S sights are fixed, front and rear. The front ramp
and rear square notch each have a red aiming dot. These are
the best sights I have ever used on a small backup pistol.
At 23 oz., the PPK/S is but 2 oz. heavier than the
stainless-steel SIG-Sauer P-230. The barrel length is 3.2 inches
and the overall length is 6.1 inches, slightly more compact than
the P-230. The suggested retail price, complete with one
magazine of each type, is $449. Stainless steel costs extra.
Disassembly takes just a few seconds. Clear the pistol and
place the safety lever on Safe. Pull down on the front of the
hinged trigger guard until it clears the frame. Push it sideways
so that it rests outside the frame. Pull the slide back
50 SOLIHEK Ol 7 FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
completely. Lift it up and allow it to move forward, under
control, to clear the barrel. Withdraw the recoil spring off the
barrel. No further disassembly is required for routine
maintenance. The barrel is permanently fixed to the frame and
does not move during the slide’s rearward movement.
Reassemble in the reverse sequence.
Five hundred rounds were fired through this pistol in El
Salvador. The full metal jacket (FMJ) cartridges functioned
without stoppages of any kind. The first several magazines of
Winchester Silvertip 85-gr. Hollow Points exhibited sticky
feeding of the first round when the slide was jacked by hand.
When I learned to stop riding the slide and released it at the
very first instant of its forward travel, the problem
disappeared. This was good news, as the Silvertips expand
more reliably than other .380 ACP hollowpoints and we need
all the help we can get with this marginal caliber. My
recommendation for this cartridge is a Glaser Safety Slug up
the snout and a magazine full of Silvertips.
With its fixed barrel, the PPK/S’ accuracy potential is quite
high for such a small pistol. The balance and handling
characteristics are excellent. The trigger pull weight on my
specimen is a very crisp, but heavy, 6 lbs. in single-action.
The double-action pull weight is quite heavy as well —
beyond the capacity of my scale to measure — probably about
14 lbs. However, it’s smooth with no “loading” at the end of
the stroke. I think we can all live with that in a backup pistol.
If not, take it to a competent pistolsmith.
I carried the PPK/S in a Model H-1LS ankle holster made
by Cobra Gunskin (Dept. SOF, 133-30 32nd Avenue,
Flushing, NY 11354). The full-grain leather holster is molded
to the pistol for which it is ordered. The thumb snap and other
hardware are a non-reflective matte black. The genuine
sheepskin pad is backed by a substantial foam liner. The
2-inch wide holster strap and elastic upper calf support use
velcro fasteners. Very comfortable, very professional and only
$36.95.
AMERICAN DERRINGER
The American Derringer is a nostalgic sheep in wolfs
clothing. Modem double-barreled derringers owe whatever
mystique they may possess to the famous over-and-under
Remington derringer in caliber .41 Rimfire Short. Invented by
William H. Elliot, it was manufactured from 1865 until 1935.
Its superimposed three-inch barrels and stubby bird-head grip
instantly identify it to anyone who has ever watched the
“Maverick” TV series. The .41-caliber 129-gr. bullet moved
out at only 520 fps — not much stopping power here, even at
close range. Not much penetration either. And since it would
rarely exit the target, some shootists smeared garlic on the
lead projectile, believing its chemical reaction with lead would
cause gangrene in short order.
Alternate firing of each barrel was achieved by a unique
saw-toothed ratchet wheel mounted with the hammer. Every
other tooth was higher. The pawl was fixed to the hammer by
a pivot and its other end was the rimfire firing pin. Each time
the hammer was cocked, the rachef s unmatched teeth moved
the firing pin either up or down. In the case of a misfire,
cocking the hammer would move the striker to the next
cartridge. Simple and reliable.
After WWn, the Great Western Arms Co. of Venice, Calif,
began producing an almost exact external replica of the
Remington derringer in .38 Spl. There were two firing pins to
accomodate the center-fire cartridge, but the firing-pin selector
wheel was retained. I had one of these 30 years ago. I got rid
of it because its firing mechanism was too fragile. No longer
made, they are now worth about $350 to collectors.
Hi-Standard followed with its double-action derringer in
both .22 LR and .22 Win. Magnum. About 10 years ago, the
American Firearms Mfg. Co., Inc. in San Antonio, Texas,
produced a stainless-steel derringer in caliber .38 Spl. An
almost identical derringer is now manufactured by the
American Derringer Corporation (Dept. SOF, P.O. Box 8983,
Waco, Texas 76714). It is produced in 23 different calibers:
Colt Python: A favorite of U.S. lawmen.
.22 LR, .22 Win. Mag, .22 Jet, .25 ACP, .223 Rem.
(5.56mm NATO), .32 Auto, .30-30 Win., .38 Super, 9mm
Ultra, 9mm Parabellum, .38 Spl., .380 ACP, .357 Mag, .357
Maximum, .41 Mag, .44 Spl., .44-40 Win., .44 Mag, .45
Win. Mag, .45x2.5-inch (snake gun), .45 Auto Rim, .45 Colt
and .45 ACP. A single-shot model is made in the heavy .44
and .45 calibers and 5.56mm NATO. There is a 7.5-oz.
lightweight model with an aluminum frame in .38 Spl.
With the exception of the Hi-Standard, all of the
Remington-type derringers are hinged at the top of the barrels
and swing up to load. This requires pivoting the pistol 180
degrees. If you can’t do the job with two rounds, forget it.
You’ve just bought the farm.
The American Derringer’s frame, barrels and other
components have been beefed up considerably to safely handle
modem center-fire cartridges. The overall appearance is
massive and bulky. Whatever aesthetics the Remington
possessed are gone. In my opinion, some of these
chamberings (.30-30 Win., 5.56mm NATO, .41 and .44
Magnum) border on the hallucinogenic.
High-strength ivory-colored plastic grips are standard on the
.38 Spl. model. The others are equipped with either rosewood
or zebrawood grips. Three finishes are available: high polish,
satin or sandblasted combat grey. The standard model weighs
15 oz. The overall length is 4.8 inches with the 3-inch barrels
(a model with 4.1-inch barrels is also available). The retail
prices range from $172.50 (.22 LR or .22 WRM) to $369 (.41
or .44 Magnum), depending on the caliber.
We chose a derringer in .44 Spl. with high polish finish and
rosewood stocks for test and evaluation. First introduced in
1907, the .44 Special cartridge has seen a recent rebirth of
interest. Powerful and superbly accurate, it was never loaded
to its full potential by the factory. When handloaded, it is
versatile enough for target shooting, self-defense or hunting. I
felt it to be the best compromise chambering for this type of
pistol. We used moderate handloads consisting of the Lyman
#429215 gas check bullet, hard cast with linotype metal,
propelled by 6.5 grains of Unique with Remington-Peters
cases and primers.
Before loading this pistol, the hammer should be placed on
the half-cock position and the hammer block safety engaged
by means of the button on the left side of the frame. Pivot the
barrel locking lever 180 degrees counterclockwise and swing
up the barrels. After loading, swing the barrels down and
rotate the barrel locking lever over the nub on the trigger pin.
To fire, the hammer must be pulled back to the full-cock
position for each round. The extractor is located between the
two barrels on the left side. It must be operated manually.
When I received this pistol, the trigger pull weight was
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDllill OF FORTUNE 51
unacceptable. The trigger could be released only if tremendous
force was applied to its lower tip. Sometimes, when moved
from half-cock to full-cock the hammer would not fall
regardless of the amount of pressure applied to the trigger.
This potentially fatal flaw disappeared after 100 rounds were
fired. The trigger pull weight also reduced somewhat after two
boxes of ammo. The hammer remains difficult to full-cock
with one hand.
Fixed sights are integral with the barrel forging. They are of
small consequence, as this three-meter gun is best pointed at
the target and accompanied by three fervent Hail Marys. The
recoil was severe, but not unbearable. Myself and a
Salvadoran sergeant who participated in the test fired 100
rounds in less than two hours.
I thought to carry this pistol loose, in the pocket of a sport
jacket, but discovered that this uncontained mode of carry
invariably resulted in the barrel locking lever rotating to the
unlocked position. I don’t think you would care to fire it with
the locking lever in this position. Furthermore, if the pistol
turns over in your pocket, you might draw it with the barrels
pointing at yourself. In which case, you could only hope your
opponent would just die laughing.
I am not impressed with the American Derringer. If you
must have a backup gun in .44 Special, buy a Charter Arms
Bulldog. The 2.5-inch barrel can be chopped by another
3 /4-inch without compromising its close-range accuracy
potential. This will leave you with a 17 oz., 5-shot belly gun,
(although not in stainless steel in that weight) which will reach
out farther with greater controlled hit potential and far
less felt recoil.
RANDALL LEMAY
The Randall LeMay .45 ACP pistol comes to us under the
auspices of John Moses Browning, a retired Air Force Chief of
Staff and the California aerospace industry.
After three-quarters of a century, Browning’s locked-breech
recoil-operated classic requires little explanation or
justification.
General Curtis E. LeMay, who honchoed the Strategic Air
Command (SAC) from its inception in 1948 until 1957, had
periodic visions of a chopped pistol that would place the
powerful .45 ACP cartridge in a more compact and
concealable package than provided by the standard M1911A1
Government Model. To this end. Air Force Marksmanship
Unit armorers were directed to execute his concept using
M1911A1 pistols and a few AMT stainless-steel frames. The
project rested in limbo until the Randall Firearms Company
(Dept. SOF, 12826 Pierce Street, Pacoima, CA 91331)
entered the arena.
With the exception of the LeMay models, the Randall
pistols are based on original M1911A1 specifications.
Drawing on its parent company’s (Ken-Air, Inc.) 40 years
of experience in the field of aerospace and missile
components, Randall has combined the very latest
stainless-steel alloys with high-technology heat treatment to
produce the ultimate blend of corrosion resistance and
friction-free operation. Every component, including pins and
springs, (except the walnut checkered grip panels) is
fabricated from stainless steel. The magazine body and
follower spring are made of 17-7 stainless steel, with 304 in
the floorplate. The unique 10-groove barrels are machined
from 416. The slide and frame both utilize 17-4 PH, but with
different heat treatments.
The Randall LeMay weighs 35 oz. in either .45 ACP or
9mm Parabellum. The barrel length is 4.5 inches, with an
overall length of 7.75 inches. The Colt Combat Commander
weighs 36 oz., has a barrel length of 4.25 inches and an
overall length of 8 inches. The grip portion of the Randall
LeMay has been shortened to yield an overall height of 6.9
inches — this at the expense of one round, for the magazine
will hold only six cartridges (7 in 9mm). The Colt
Government Model has an overall height of 7.4 inches. All
Randall pistols are available in mirror-image lefthanded
versions.
The LeMay is available with either fixed or Millett
low-profile adjustable sights. I chose the fixed high-profile
combat sights, which, although stainless steel, are black oxide
finished. The front sight is a wide serrated blade. The rear
sight is square notch with rounded sides to inhibit snagging. It
could do with a little more rounding on its front and rear
surfaces, yet the target can be acquired rapidly with these
sights. Adjustable sights are neither required nor desired on
handguns designed for serious social purposes.
The sides of the frame and slide are polished. All other
exterior surfaces have a glass-beaded matte finish. The right
side of the slide is marked “MODEL GEN. CURTIS E.
LeMAY ****.” Most of the machine and investment casting
marks had been removed from the SOF test specimen. The
front of the trigger guard has been squared and serrated. I do
not make use of this feature and feel it to be a marketing
gimmick. If you want it, it’s there. The slide’s ejection port
has been enlarged and polished. This custom feature prevents
denting of the empty cases and will sometimes eliminate
stoppages caused by a failure to completely eject.
The hammer is a ring type in the Colt Commander
configuration. The beavertail grip safety is the best I’ve ever
used. After more than 1,000 rounds, I had not even a trace of
hammer bite. As this pistol should always be carried “locked
and cocked,” I do not advocate de-activating the grip safety,
52 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
Salvadoran junior officer after firing Colt Python .357 Magnum.
no matter what some gun school commando tells you. The flat
main spring housing is smooth.
The long trigger was factory adjusted to my specification of
a clean breaking pull weight at 3 lbs. The enlarged thumb
safety lever is excellent and moves on and off with the ease of
a noiseless light switch. The trigger has an over-travel stop
adjustment. While the pistol’s overall component fit was
satisfactory, the trigger exhibited slightly excessive vertical
play. This neither affected performance nor was it noticed
during firing sequences.
The LeMay model is normally equipped with an extended
slide stop. This is a mistake. When employing the proper
Weaver two-hand hold, all too often the thumbs will press
down on an extended slide stop and permit the slide to travel
forward before a new magazine has been inserted (of course,
we always change magazines before the last round has been
fired anyway — don’t we?). My LeMay was provided with a
normal-size slide stop.
During preliminary function testing, conducted before my
departure to El Salvador, the pistol immediately exhibited the
so-called “Commander syndrome.” The slide stop would all
too frequently jump up in the middle of a firing sequence and
engage the slide’s stop notch. This turns the weapon into a
single-shot dueling pistol and simply won’t do for the streets
of San Salvador. A function of the recoiling forces and the
slide’s relatively short travel distance, it is, gratefully, easy
enough to correct. My pistolsmith, Burke C. Hill, Jr., ground
a small dimple into the rear face of the slide stop. This gives
the spring-loaded slide-stop plunger a better bite on the slide
stop. Be careful. Grind too deep and the magazine follower
won’t have enough strength to pivot the slide stop upward
after the last round has been fired.
The 6-shot magazines are of two types. One is of standard
configuration, the other has an extended floorplate — bent
downward to serve as a finger support. I don’t need the latter
type, but Mr. Fatfingers might. The extended floorplate
magazines sent to me seat slightly too deep in the magazine
well. Care must be exercised that they have locked on the
magazine catch when inserted. The magazine followers are
rounded to improve feeding. Seven-round Randall,, Colt or
whatever magazines can be used, but they will extend
approximately one inch out the bottom of the magazine well.
The magazine well’s sides have been beveled. Magazines drop
freely out of the well when released.
The 10-groove barrel is fitted with a solid bushing. That’s
good. (The Colt Series 70 Mark IV collet bushing is a
disaster.) The Randall’s only departure from Browning’s
original design is a full-length recoil-spring guide rod. This
has caused a minor rhubarb among gun writers/experts. It
seems they are impeded from constantly checking the chamber
by hooking their thumb in the trigger guard while pressing
back with the index finger on the recoil-spring
plug/bushing/slide assembly. I have watched some shooters
repeat this drill with a frenzy approaching that of Lady
Macbeth. There are other ways to retract the slide enough to
inspect the chamber.
In addition, these worthies seem more than a little
befuddled by the slightly different disassembly procedures.
Just remove the magazine and clear the chamber. Place the
pistol on a padded, solid surface, muzzle up. Using the heel
of a magazine, press down on the inner edge of the
recoil-spring plug. Continue downward pressure on both the
plug and slide until the guide rod’s clearance slot is exposed.
Rotate the barrel bushing clockwise with the left hand till it’s
halfway through the slot. Reposition the thumb of your right
hand over the recoil-spring plug. Rotate the barrel bushing
completely through the slot. Proceed as usual. Reassemble in
the reverse order. Now, that wasn’t so difficult, was it?
However, I doubt if the full-length guide rod adds much to
spring life. If it proves to be beyond your mechanical
comprehension, buy a Colt-type plug and guide rod.
After the slide stop was modified there were no further
stoppages of any kind during the 1,000 rounds logged through
this pistol. All the more remarkable, as 200 rounds were
reloads using a 185-gr. wadcutter bullet backed by 6.5 grains
of Unique. This ammunition has been lying around my
reloading room for a decade or more as it has failed to feed
consistently through any and all .45 ACP pistols I have ever
attempted to fire it through. I don’t even recall the brand.
Nonetheless, the Randall LeMay — throated and feed ramp
polished by the factory — digested this garbage like a
barnyard boar hog. One hundred rounds of Winchester
Silvertip Hollow Points also shuffled right on through the
Randall. The remaining 700 rounds were assorted lots of G.I.
ball. My recommendation is the Winchester Silvertip
cartridge. Its 185-gr. bullet with a crease-folded aluminum
jacket travels at 900 fps. It avoids over-penetration, but will
give your opponent a very severe migraine.
Regardless of ammunition, the Randall printed into 2.5-3
inches at 25 yards — more than adequate for the intended
purpose. Felt recoil is at the same level as a Colt Government
Model or Combat Commander. The old-style checkered wood
grip panels bear no escutcheon. They’re just right.
Continued on page 92
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLIUEK OF FORTUNE 53
SOF BELIZE
GURKHA
Bren MGs are still the squad automatics of Britain’s Nepalese soldiers.
Britain’s Bushmasters in Belize
Text & Photos by David Mills
ESPITE an abiding popular misconception, those hard-fighting
Gurkha troops of the British Army — blooded most recently in the brutal
fighting for the Falklands — are not mercenaries.
They are — and have been since 1948 — a respected and renowned
unit of the regular British Army. These diminutive and deadly soldiers
from Nepal serve in subunits of Her Majesty’s Brigade of Gurkhas in
assignments ranging from ceremonial guard at Buckingham Palace to
security duty in Belize, a former British colony in Central America.
Given their hard-earned reputation for loyalty and tenacity in combat,
it’s no wonder the British Ministry of Defense never hesitates to include
Gurkha units in rotations to potential powderkegs such as Belize.
54 SOI.DIEII OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
The most recent unit to serve there (1984) was 10th Princess
Mary’s Own Gurkha Rifles. They carried with them a long combat
history that includes action in the Malayan Emergency (1948-60).
They appeared to have lost none of their Southeast Asian jungle
expertise during service in Central America. That may seem odd
for soldiers many people would presume are uncomfortable out of
the thin air and snowy reaches of the Himalayas. It’s just another
example of the misconceptions that abound concerning Gurkhas.
While most Gurkha soldiers are indeed recruited from areas of
Nepal that range from 5,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level (an area
which encompasses just a fraction of Nepal), they can — and do
— come from all parts of the country to join the ranks. The 10th
Princess Mary’s Own Gurkha Rifles are an example of the intense
desire many Nepalese youths have to serve with the regiment.
The men of the 10th are mainly Rais and Limbus recruited from
eastern Nepal. Competition for acceptance is fierce. As many as
2,500 men typically apply each year for only 200 slots in the ranks.
Many who fail selection for a Gurkha formation simply cross the
border and join Indian Army battalions. Others, unable to face the
shame of returning to their villages, drift into the slums of Terai.
Belize, formerly British Honduras, draws divers, tourists and beachcombers.
Joining the twentieth century, heliborne Gurkhas have modern mobility.
Strong family connections are a feature of the 10th PMOGR as
they are in other Gurkha formations. Many of the soldiers join
brothers, uncles and even fathers serving in the same battalion.
Such intense loyalty to a single unit is entirely understandable
given the record of achievement chalked up in British military
history by this celebrated Gurkha formation. The 10th Princess
Mary’s Own Gurkha Rifles trace their history back to 1887 when a
military police battalion was raised by the government of India to
protect the Kubo Valley in the western extremes of Burma. It was
activated as the Kubo Valley Military Police Battalion and
composed almost entirely of volunteers from Gurkha units of the
Indian Army.
In 1890, a special force was formed to serve in Burma as part of
the Madras Army patrolling that turbulent part of the Empire. One
of the units selected was the 10th Madras Infantry, which had been
raised at Vellore in 1766. Regular officers and soldiers of the unit
were replaced by Gurkhas from the Kubo Valley Police Battalion
who adopted the colors and mess silver of the 10th Madras
Infantry. The new unit was designated the 10th (Burma) Regiment
of Madras Infantry on 1 May 1890, the date marked as the founding
of the current regiment.
Although the regimental designation has undergone many
changes over the years, the figure 10 has always been retained.
The present title was received in 1950 from King George VI in
recognition of the achievements of the regiment in World War II
and to mark official affiliation with the Royal Scots (The Royal
Regiment), The First of Foot.
A second Gurkha battalion was raised in 1908 and in World War
l both battalions were involved in continuous combat action in
Mesopotamia, Egypt and Gallipoli. During WWII two additional
Gurkha battalions were raised and all four were blooded in heavy
fighting in North Africa, Italy and Burma. The regiment won more
awards for gallantry, suffered more casualties and spent more time
in action than any other regiment of the Indian Army.
After British rule in India ended in 1947, the 10th and three other
Gurkha regiments were selected for continued service with the
British Army. The regiment moved to Malaya in 1948 and stayed in
the thick of the fighting there until the end of the emergency in
1960.
SEPTEMBER 85
soi.i»ii:n or roii M M $7
/ T
Gurkhas were heavily involved in the Indonesian confrontation
of 1963 and spent 56 months in action during which they killed
more enemy troops and won more awards for gallantry than any
other regiment in the British Army. It was during this brutal
combat that Lance Corporal Rambahadur Limbu won the Victoria
Cross, Great Britain’s highest decoration for gallantry in action. He
is now a Captain with the 10th Princess Mary’s Own Gurkha Rifles.
Gurkhas also served gallantly in action against Argentine troops
in the Falklands and are currently handling peacetime duties in
Hong Kong, Brunei and Cyprus.
Gurkha units are mostly led by British officers who compete just
as fiercely as Gurkha recruits for assignment to the Brigade. A
British subaltern serving with 10th PMOGR in Belize indicated his
choices for assignment after graduation from Sandhurst were
listed as, (1) The Gurkhas, (2) The Gurkhas, and (3) The Gurkhas.
He got his wish and the admiration of his classmates.
In the chain of command between Gurkha troops and their
British leaders are the officers and NCOs of the Queen’s Gurkha
Officers. They are responsible for purely Gurkha matters of
religion, custom and other ethnic concerns.
Legendary jungle fighters, Britain's Gurkhas appear in strange places — like
Central America — since the Empire has shrunk.
SB
SO I.H I I'll OF FUltTIWK
September as
THE MILITARY
KUKRI
Among military buffs and fans of distinctive
weaponry, Gurkha means Kukri and vice versa.
Gurkha troops are known and recognized by the
deadly blade which has become an integral part of
their combat kit. But there are just as many
misconceptions about the Kukri knife as there are
about Gurkhas.
A high-quality Kukri is usually presented to a
Gurkha boy by his family or friends when he
leaves his ancestral village to enlist in the British
Army. That’s as it should be, given Gurkha
heritage. The Kukri is much more than a
formidable military weapon. Almost every adult
male Nepalese carries one on his belt. It is his
most valued and valuable tool for coping with the
rigors of country life. He uses the Kukri as most
American outdoorsmen use a favorite skinning or
working blade as an everyday tool.
If a Gurkha boy is accepted for service in a
battalion without a Kukri he will be given one from
military issue. There are some significant
differences in the two models. The civilian
versions typically feature various hilts which may
be made of bone, wood or brass. They are carried
in a variety of scabbard styles which generally
reflect the artistry of the knifemaker.
Military issue Kukris are all made at The British
Gurkha Regiment headquarters and training
establishment in Eastern Nepal. They are
handmade by craftsmen who use an ancient
bellows and hand-powered grinding wheels to
fashion the durable blades.
Hilts on issue Kukris are all fashioned from
animal horn brought into Nepal from India
specifically for this purpose. The hilt is shaped and
mated to the blade which features a full tang for
strength. Hilt and blade are secured by a brass
pommel. Each handmade Kukri is tempered and
Reverse-curved Kukri has ridden at Gurkha
sides for centuries. Sample courtesy SOF
Exchange.
sharpened to a razor-edge by hand. When a Kukri
leaves this primitive factory it is rigorously tested
and finally stamped with the date and “ORDEP
NEPAL" as a seal of acceptance.
Gurkha military scabbards are fashioned from
sturdy wood and covered with tightly stretched
black leather. They feature a brass clasp and tip.
Each military scabbard features extra sheaths at
the rear for carrying a smaller skinning knife and a
fire-starting steel.
The craftsmen in East Nepal must turn out 200
Kukris for military use each month. The weapons
are shipped to the Training Center, Brigade of
Gurkhas in Hong Kong. Any rejects after rigid
inspection are promptly returned to Nepal. Like
most handmade items these days, Kukris come
with a full warranty.
That doesn’t necessarily mean they are the
greatest fighting knife on anyone’s battlefield. The
issue Kukri will not behead an ox in the hands of
the average Gurkha soldier despite the pictures of
this activity that are regularly circulated in the
Western press. This ceremonial sacrifice, carried
out at the annual Gurkha festival of Dashera, is
done with a specially made, extra-large Kukri
reserved for the purpose.
Still, the Kukri is a formidable weapon. With
scabbard, the issue Kukri weighs 23.6 ounces.
The knife alone weighs 15.7 ounces. It is 16
inches long overall with a blade length of 11
inches.
Mastering the Kukri takes practice and most
Gurkha troops spend a great deal of off-duty time
in the pursuit of excellence with the weapon that
means so much to their regiment. They also suffer
a number of self-inflicted wounds from careless
handling of the Kukri. ^
SEPTEMBER 85
SOI.IUF.lt OF FORTUNE 59
SOF ISRAEL
CHUCK KRAMER
IDF’s Master Sniper
by Dale A. Dye
Although much has been said — pro and
con — concerning the Israeli drive into
Lebanon to evict PLO terrorists in the sum¬
mer of 1982 , the IDF has been reluctant to
discuss lessons learned by their troops dur¬
ing the bitter fighting in Beirut. What has
been revealed about tactics employed in
‘ ‘Operation Peace for Galilee ’ ’ has focused
on the use of armor and combat aircraft.
Few students of the conflict in the Middle
East realize the IDF — at the urging of an
American emigre named Chuck Kramer —
used the anti-PLO operation as a test and
evaluation opportunity for a new cadre of
highly trained snipers. The chain of events
leading up to employment of snipers in
Beirut and their record in combat is an intri¬
guing story and an insight into sniper opera¬
tions around the world.
Former Executive Editor Dale Dye , a
veteran of service in Beirut with the U.S.
Steyr SSG favored by Border Police special
anti-terrorist unit covers the sensitive
border between Israel and Lebanon.
marine contingent of the Multinational
Peacekeeping Force , cornered sniper and
special security consultant Chuck Kramer
[19 Coventry A , West Palm Beach , Fla.
33409] for this exclusive interview.
SOF: How did Chuck Kramer become
a sniper to begin with?
KRAMER: I was at West Point in the early
1950s and I was small-arms instructor there.
I shot a lot and this was just a logical exten¬
sion. [After moving to Israel] I got involved
personally with the commander of the
Israeli border police. They were forming
their anti-terrorist unit. At that time the bor¬
der police were all Israeli combat soldiers. I
was put in charge of their northern-area
sniper group which I recruited from veteran
border policemen. I trained them with
weapons available to the police which were
Austrian bolt-action Steyr sporters with
their own scopes. Everything was bought
commercially.
North of the border right opposite Leba¬
non was Rosh Hanikra, Hanita and other
settlements where the terrorists came in
close and fired light mortars, Katusha rock¬
ets or what have you. For days we’d lay an
ambush for these guys. They’d come up real
close with a stolen Mercedes Benz and park
the car, open the trunk, take out the mortar
and shoot, then put it back in the trunk and
leave. I worked as an independent y’hiedah
[Hebrew for unit] attached to the border
police headquarters which was outside of
Tel Aviv. I had then got friendly with the
commander of the newly formed anti-
terrorist unit and he absorbed our unit by
osmosis. The border police commander felt
that there should be a massive sniper infu¬
sion into the anti-terrorist unit. We just
started building this unit by trial and error
based on everybody’s past mistakes and
actual field experiences.
When was this?
This was in the late 1970s. We put on a
demonstration for the Prime Minister and he
asked, 4 How many rounds do you use up?’ I
said, ‘Well, we bum out around 200 or 300
rounds a day per man.’ He asked if that
wasn’t too expensive. I said, ‘Well, Mr.
Prime Minister, how many rounds a day is
your wife worth?’
What sort of training did you put the
anti-terrorist snipers through?
I made the targets as human as possible. I
changed the standard firing targets to full-
size, anatomically correct figures because
no Syrian runs around with a big white
square on his chest with numbers on it. I put
clothes on these targets and polyurethane
heads. I cut up a cabbage and poured catsup
into it and put it back together. I said,
‘When you look through that scope, I want
you to see a head blowing up.’ Everybody
was satisfied. In retrospect, the time I spent
in the anti-terrorist unit and in the army was
the only actual time I felt I was doing some¬
thing positive for the defense of the country
directly. It was an experience.
Now how did you switch from border
60 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
security operations to the Army?
At the airport I had met “Rafool” Eitan. I
hadn’t seen him in years. He said, ‘I heard
some good things about you. Why not quit
this kid’s stuff and come to the Army?’ So
inside of a week he had become chief of
staff and with three phone calls I was in the
Army.
We re-initiated the Army sniper course
which was a total and absolute disaster.
They were using outdated Czech bolt-action
Mauser rifles made back in the 1930s. Their
concept of sniping was completely antiquat¬
ed. The Army had no snipers but on paper
they had a lot.
We started from scratch with a semiauto¬
matic sniper rifle modified from a Russian
AK-47 manufactured in Israel, the M26Cir-
cis. My own personal theories were that a
sniper must maneuver with the smallest unit
possible as the Russians do. Their sniper
schools have never been closed since 1936.
[In the IDF] there was no sniper doctrine per
se. The Egyptian sniper school was very
British-oriented. The Syrians had bought a
lot of Steyrs — thousands of them — and
were equipping them with the best optics
and night-vision devices they could get
while the Israelis weren’t doing much of
anything.
So you were facing two basic problems:
tactical employment of snipers — which
you felt was wrong — and chronic lack of
equipment.
The 1947 independence war in Jerusalem
where the Jordanians were shooting across
the border at the Israelis was what they
remembered. The crux of the matter actual¬
ly sat in their officer training schools. There
was no sniper indoctrination. They didn’t
ask the right questions. How do you employ
them [snipers] as another tactical tool for the
small-unit commander? In 1947 in Jeru¬
salem they were shooting from the rooftops
with old bolt-action rifles after watching for
a month. But there was nothing cut and
Kramer relaxes in the prone with M26.
dried and no tactical doctrine involved. So
my initial plan was to convince the Army to
buy enough of these M26 rifles, collect
them and start a real good, serious sniper
school in the desert. The sniper would leave
with his own personal weapon zeroed and
rebuilt for him and return to an ongoing
training program in his organic/original
unit.
You weren’t interested in the Reming¬
ton Model 700?
Not whatsoever. It’s just another bolt-
action civilian spotter configured for mili¬
tary application. It just didn’t work well.
What was the training designed to pro¬
duce for the IDF?
I built into this course everything I felt
was necessary to get top-of-the-line. first-
round-kill snipers who could take targets at
zero to 1,000 meters. I had about 50 appli¬
cants for this course. We took the youngest
guys who had the most time to serve. I asked
all the right questions. ‘We want you guys
to look through the scope and just see a
target and watch his head being blown
apart. Are you going to do this?’ If there was
any slight hesitation, I’d tell them to go
home because I didn’t have time to fool
around. We shaved it down to 15 guys be¬
cause we only had 15 rifles at that time.
What were the tactical changes that
you wanted to make?
I would make a combat sniper who would
maneuver with the smallest possible infan¬
try unit — an eight- or nine-man squad —
and indoctrinate the officer in the tactical
use of snipers as another tool for his small
unit.
What was the course like?
We were working by hook or by crook
down by the Tzahal Officers Training
Course Base No. 1, living in tents out in the
desert for 13 weeks or so. We were indepen¬
dent but officially attached to the infantry
paratroop school. We built our own 1,000-
meter range on a desert plateau. Anything I
wanted, I did. I drew 2Vi million rounds of
ammunition and we started shooting. I told
the students, ‘If you guys won’t kill any¬
body I aim you at [with the] first round, then
out.’ There was an esprit de corps because
they were getting good at this.
What weapons were you using?
We used old weapons. We used Jim
Leatherwood’s old ART scopes. I had
targets especially made for us in desert
brown which were totally invisible to the
naked eye. We changed the target con¬
figuration for the entire Army using realis-
Kramer’s Beirut beat: Sniper’s post
overlooks PLO positions in woods below.
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 61
tic, human-size targets in colors which the
enemy is supposed to wear in the desert. At
the end of the course these guys would ac¬
quire in 20 seconds a target at unknown
ranges and fire one round into it and kill it,
any range, any place and not under formal
range conditions. They were usually under a
pile of rocks on the side of a mountain
shooting down. They also ran the close-
combat course from two meters to 30 meters
[to train for] instinctive fire with a sniper’s
rifle. They were set to kill all comers with
our own equipment. They told us nobody
runs a close-combat course with a 14-lb.
sniper’s rifle and nobody’s got semiauto¬
matic sniper rifles. They told us nobody
shoots moving targets with an SLS [Star¬
light Scope] at 200 meters in the head. But
we did all that. We were as trained as you
could possibly get. We made an accounting
and determined during the course each guy
fired about 20,000 rounds.
What sort of point-of-aim did you
teach the snipers?
The target presentation ran this way: at
300 meters, head shots mandatory; at 300-
500 meters you had chest-high targets only;
500-700 meters you had Vi of a target and at
a kilometer, a full-size figure. We did it that
way because in combat that would logically
be how an enemy would present himself.
If the head was available, the point-of-
aim was the head. The general rule held that
the killing zone was pocket-to-pocket from
the top of your breastbone down your ster¬
num or stomach, sort of a big rectangle. 1
said, T don’t care where you hit them within
that area, you’re going to kill them.’ I felt
we’re not shooting these guys between the
eyes unless that’s the only available shot.
You’re looking to kill the enemy so you put
one round right in between his second and
third buttons and he’s dead.
What was the role of the sniper in a
tactical situation as you explained it to the
young lieutenants who visited the sniper
IDF sniper-unit practice with Israeli M26
rifle and ART scope.
course?
That he [the sniper] is your long-range
personal artillery above and beyond the
range of your personal weapons. In any
situation where you needed a long-range,
accurate, first-round kill to survive in a sort
of unexpected tactical situation, you had in
your possession a tool with which to do this.
It’s not like in the States where you could
pick up air support or artillery fire from
base. It was not available. You had to suffer
with direct tank fire if it [fire support] was
around at all.
Tell me about a tactical situation in the
Middle East where a squad leader or a
platoon leader would need his sniper.
Let’s say you have an infantry platoon
maneuvering in the southern Negev and
they get pinned down in a tactically dis¬
advantageous position by long-range
heavy-weapons fire, a .50-caliber machine
gun or equivalent. They’re shooting at you
from 1,000 meters and just holding you
down until they can get accurate mortar fire.
With a squad-level sniper, a lieutenant
could send this guy out to a good position of
concealment to discover the source of the
incoming fire with whatever optical aids he
had. If nothing else, he could use his 6X or
12X scope to spot and then just eliminate the
source of the extended-range fire.
Go for the gunner?
Yeah, or shoot very close to him. The
sniper could probably kill these guys with
three rounds or they’d run away and then
you’d just go along your merry way. If the
enemy was employing tactical snipers in
place of heavy weapons, our guy would
assassinate them at a totally extended range
just like the Indians. Kill the radio operators
first, then quietly shoot all enemy soldiers in
the head at ranges up to two and three times
the effective range of their personal
weapons. It would be like Custer’s Last
Stand with 70 guys laying out there dead,
each killed by one bullet.
We were discussing snipets used en
masse as a force or snipers used Singly on
the smallest tactical unit. A corps com¬
mander could just deploy a massive group
of snipers attached to a larger unit to hold an
area of miles. The snipers could just mark a
path or killing zone of one kilometer in
depth in which nothing moves for whatever
tactical or strategic advantages you wanted.
What were your equipment recom¬
mendations for this new cadre of IDF
snipers?
That takes some background. A combat
sniper works at ranges far above the accu¬
rate, combat-effective range of the personal
weapons of the infantry trooper. So he is
working where their business stops. He is
working out at a half-kilometer and farther
with deadly accuracy day and night to get
one-round kills under any conditions. That
was the foundation of everything I did. All
my input and data bears this out. All we were
lacking to pull it off was the equipment.
The reticle I designed was an optical ART
ranging device. 1 built the ellipse and the
center of the vertical based on human head
dimensions which are 27 by 15 cm. That is
the basic size of a human head. You would
fit the target into an ellipse until the target’s
head filled it [the ellipse]. Combat sniping is
far afield from anti-terrorist stuff where you
know the exact range. The equipment
should be geared to help a sniper hit targets
of unknown sizes and unknown shapes at
unknown ranges day or night.
So you had a cadre of trained snipers
and a modicum of adequate equipment.
Tell me how Chuck Kramer got involved
in the 1982 war.
My reserve unit was attached to one of the
divisions of the northern area command.
War started without the snipers. IDF opin¬
ion on sniping was — and is—stil 1 based on
the old British adage that snipers use static
positions. Anyway, 1 had gone north with a
reconnaissance company. We’d gone up to
the eastern part of Lebanon to Kfar Choonah
east of Jezinne. The heavy fighting [in that
area] was just about over in June of 1982.
View of the shelling of Beirut from
high-rise-roof sniper’s nest.
62 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
The political pressure had just about
stopped everything. We were interested in
infiltrating terrorists who were running
away fronJfeeirut to get back to Syria.
We were about 90 klicks up into the Be-
kaa in some little mountain town when I got
a telex from the Chief of Staff [Rafael Eitan]
ordering me to Beirut immediately. I ended
up in the Beirut University up on the moun¬
tain which had been taken over by the para-
troop infantry commander. I was assigned
to a paratrooper unit above the airport. It
was very loose. They said, ‘Okay, Chuck,
go out there and see what you can do/ No
orders, nothing. Just, ‘Go see if this is worth
your while/ Things had quieted down at
that point. There was just a lot of artillery
firing night interdiction into the area north
of the airport and lots of PLO Katushas
falling all over the place. The area was
liberally sprinkled by small-arms fire day
and night.
What did you discover about sniper
position and observation in Beirut? Did
you work snipers in two-man teams or
singles?
Two-man teams for protection. They [the
snipers] get kind of tired. You can’t stay at
an SLS for more than a couple of minutes.
One protects the other’s back. Even though
they all carried handguns, that wasn’t much
help when a guy is standing in back of you
with a ‘Kalatch’ [Kalashnikov]. I just put
two guys together who were at ease with
each other and worked well together and
who wanted to be a team. No one was forced
on anybody ever. If there were any maver¬
icks nobody wanted, we got rid of them.
There were no lone wolves and after you do
this for awhile, you know how to play the
game with your partner. These guys would
gather intelligence data as trained observ¬
ers. That was part of their job. Infantry guys
who are sent out to observe will always miss
something where an experienced sniper will
pick this up.
And these observation techniques —
scanning and spotting, the business of
looking for certain tell-tale signs — were
all covered in training?
Most of the guys in my unit were older
and had been through five or six wars plus
various campaigns. They knew what to look
for. Even if a sniper doesn’t shoot, he has
his hand in the game, pulling in intelligence
data. We did that in Beirut for about a week.
I had sent these guys out and we weren’t
supposed to shoot — just watch. They
poured in a wealth of data which even the
intelligence people had missed.
What happened with your snipers
then?
At the end of July I said, ‘You’d better get
my unit up there [into Beirut] again.’ I was
told there are no targets in Beirut. They [the
IDF] are using direct tank fire. I said, ‘I’ve
got 30 fully equipped guys and we’d better
get into this thing again/ I told them not to
worry, my guys would find plenty of
targets. This was at the time when the PLO
were cornered in West Beirut and in the
port. Everybody knew that Tzahal was
Beirut’s broken buildings offer IDF snipers
their best cover and their greatest danger.
Photo: Jim Morris
massing to drive them into the sea.
We got orders to proceed immediately to
Beirut to the division headquarters. They
[the snipers] fired about five or 10 rounds
just for zero, loaded on an old bus and
proceeded up the road. We pulled up to
headquarters and there was total confusion
about what to do with us. They were laying
the final plan for the assault on West Beirut
out for regimental and battalion officers and
they had amassed a lot of power. I had never
seen so many tanks in my entire life. They
had this 20-block area rigged out bumper-
to-bumper.
They wanted to go in there and just push
them [the PLO] right into the ocean. We
were to take 20 snipers. I split them up into
three units. I had about 10 guys with me. It
was just a big mess: a lot of small-arms fire.
We were east of the museum about two
blocks. The first night we were there we
found ourselves in the wrong place and got
in the middle of this huge artillery barrage.
We were on the ground floor of a six-story,
unfinished building. It was one of many
sleepless nights. Welcome to Beirut.
Were you at this point prepared to use
your snipers in the classic tactical role?
Right. I was assigned an area south of the
hippodrome which was right opposite the
French Ambassador’s house and had a lot of
PLO infiltration. We were to make this area
too hot for them to go into. The idea was to
push them as far west into Beirut as we
possibly could while the artillery just shot
down buildings.
I had the largest sniper force of the entire
Israeli Army at that point. The numbers at
the end of the war indicated there were 47
snipers employed in the entire action in¬
volving more than 100,000 troops. I had
over 20 [of the snipers] under one com¬
mand. All the rest were dispersed through¬
out the entire force that was operating in
Lebanon.
We got most of our [intelligence! data
from either [Christian] Phalange or
Lebanese Army units. The guys went out in
pairs and looked every day in specific areas.
The word had gotten out to the other side.
Word [of the IDF sniper presence] spread
like wildfire and these areas did quiet down
immediately because they knew somebody
was looking for them. They realized there
was an organized group of Israeli snipers
looking for them and this didn’t sit too well.
We proceeded to stay there about a month
until the multinational force had come in.
We watched the Marines come into the har¬
bor and then the French who went into the
hippodrome to the ambassador’s house. We
saw the PLO open up on the French. There
were French paratroopers here and there.
We stayed until the general election and we
assumed there would be a total uprising by
the PLO after Gemayel was elected unani¬
mously. We felt at that point the PLO would
make a concerted effort to either break out
or start an uprising in the country. We
alerted all my forces to contain this thing in
a small area in West Beirut. We stayed there
until there was some sort of plan to evacuate
the PLO and we were given orders to stop
shooting. Small-unit commanders said,
‘Rifle fire is going on so kill as many as you
can/ I said, ‘What I don’t know doesn’t
hurt me and if you want to squeeze off a
couple for auld iang syne , just go ahead and
do it.’
How did you control the sniper teams?
During this whole operation 1 would be in
SEPTEMBER 65
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 63
contact by radio with these guys and a con¬
firmed kill [witnessed by two men] was
recorded as ‘one down / I’d record the range
for my own records. Most of the good hits
were at extreme long range and most of the
kills were made at 600-800 meters. These
guys [the PLO] were getting very wary by
then. Nobody was walking around and the
only guys who were there were PLO. There
were no civilians in that area. Then they
wised up and were running around in civil¬
ian clothes and had stashed their weapons.
We spotted a guy on a motor scooter who
seemed totally clean but who had weapons
stashed in five or six apartments.
Were most of these kills at 600 or 800
meters people in buildings? Were you
shooting framed targets or were you
shooting open targets?
Both. It was a matter of targets of oppor¬
tunity. Targets appeared at almost any range
but there wasn’t much close-range stuff.
These guys were too smart for that. They
would stay very clear and they were using
motor scooters a lot. I got two on a motor
scooter by sheer luck. I was watching this
big wide avenue and sure as hell I saw this
big motor scooter coming toward me about
a kilometer away with two guys on it.
They’re both carrying SKS carbines slung
over their shoulders, two shopping baskets
full of food and these canvas carriers for the
Israeli Army and Christian militia forces
attempted to control southern Lebanon with
guards and outposts, but snipers were an
important positive control on terrorism.
Photo: Jim Morris
RPGs on front of the motor scooter. I lined
them up and shot one off by sheer instinct. It
was a classic shot. The round must have
gone through the driver and then into the
passenger. They went out of my sight pic¬
ture and with that I lifted my head up and
said, ‘Hey, score two for the old man. ’ Then
I looked down the road and I saw another
guy getting up to run across the street. I
squeezed off one round but I didn’t hit him
that bad and he fell down. I just squeezed off
a second round. It was sheer luck: in a
matter of minutes, two kills.
I documented all the things we were lack¬
ing at the end of this month period [in Beirut]
and we left after the Marines had settled into
where they were [a triangular perimeter
around Beirut International Airport].
What new things about sniping did you
learn from your experience with the
Israelis in Beirut?
The Israeli Army had no experience
fighting in big cities. All our sniper training
and indoctrination paid off. I was proven
totally right.
Let’s concentrate on specifics.
All my theories were proven true in
Beirut as far as sniper effectiveness in big
cities goes, I wish I’d had 200 [snipers]
instead of 20. If the equipment was better, I
would have had more oppdrtunity to per¬
form better. I found to my surprise the PLO
had very poor snipers using equipment
almost six or seven years old in comparison
with modern Soviet equipment. They
worked alone with no sort of training. They
were partisan. They just went out to shoot as
many Israeli soldiers as they could. I found
out — even as bad as they [PLO snipers]
were, the reaction of the Israeli soldier to
being fired on by a sniper was terror. It was
terrifying to feel that you were under a snip¬
er’s scope. Units were stalled for hours
while the commander was screaming for air
support to take out a guy firing a plain
Kalatch with no scope at 150 meters right
into his position. I found the Syrians had
good snipers. They had good equipment and
good training.
After 30 days with 20 men in Beirut,
what was the number that you put down?
Most of the firing was done in the first
three days. The other 26 or so days there
were countless short cease-fires that were
constantly violated by the PLO. That would
cause the fighting to flare up again. In the
first three days, we had 16 [kills] verified,
all at extended ranges, 32 probables and
countless war stories. This all occurred in
about 70 hours in the first three days we
were there. The closest shot was 150 meters
— a total fluke with a sniper rifle — where
one of the snipers lined up on this guy and
found to his horror he didn’t have a round in
the chamber. He pulled the bolt back on his
M14 and eased it in and the bolt didn’t lock.
That happens with an M14. He lined up,
squeezed and click. The guy he was shoot¬
ing at heard the click and ducked back inside
a building. The sniper jacked the round out
cursing in Hebrew, chambered another and
waited. An Israeli air strike came over
Beirut and these guys [the PLO] ran out like
kids to watch the airplanes. That’s when he
shot him.
Based on your experience in Beirut, do
you think the IDF learned anything about
the employment of snipers?
They have learned that you can employ
snipers. They’re not as glamorous as a lot of
other things, but they work. I don’t see any
bom-again Christians in this saying, ‘Wow,
let’s make this a first-rate effort to incorpo¬
rate one sniper per platoon and really train
these guys because this is the way to go.’
It’s nowhere near that level where I en¬
visioned it would have been after they real¬
ized the fact that for the huge amount of
troops employed there were just 47 snipers
in the entire Peace for Galilee operation. It
may be just slightly better now but I doubt
it.
What about lessons learned regarding
sniper equipment?
You’ve got to understand the prejudices
sniper advocates were up against in the IDF
to understand that situation. Major com¬
manders were from the old school of ‘follow
64 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
me, automatic weapons fire, close and kill;
snipers lay on roofs in static positions.’ One
of the northern-area commanders had gone
up for some toti-terrorist missions in Leba¬
non. He was a non-sniper person at the
beginning and he was a convert when he left
the infantry division paratroop school
[which he once commanded] where Snipers
were tftt thing . His name was Yossi Koller
and he was a hard-nosed ex-paratrooper that
eventually got the ball rolling.
We had tested ^ry theory imaginable
with every piece oi iipment we had and
made recommendations. When we saw the
M26 was an impossible dream, 1 took 5,000
M 14s out of stores, had my instructors shoot
for a week and took the 80 best rifles I could
find. I had a purchase order for 30 modified
Ml4s which I helped design myself
What were some of the modifications?
We took a stock M14 and rebuilt the
plastic stock to the configuration of the M26
and extended the cheek rest to where your
head was kept up and the scope was set off
to the side. We hung a suppresser on the
front, mounted a Harris bipod and tuned the
trigger action slightly. That was the best you
could do.
By the way, did you have any left-
handed shooters?
No, but the fact that the cheek rest was
designed in such a way that a left-handed
shooter could just lean over slightly and fire
comfortably would have made them no
problem. My exec was a lefty. He fired an
M26 all day long. He would just lean his
head over and fire it from the physical right
side of the weapon rather than the left side
with no inconvenience whatsoever. The
open sights were available if you had an
optics malfunction.
What scopes were you using?
They were these 4X tubes made by some
Swiss outfit and totally unacceptable. We
had the configuration with a vertical post
that totally blacked out a [long range] target.
The increment arrangements were so coarse
that one click either way at 300 meters and
you’d be off your target. These were 100-
meter and 50-meter scopes that were bought
in the late 1940s and reconditioned six or
seven times. They were ready for the scrap
heap. We had a couple of Leatherwood’s
ARTs and 1 had one on my own rifle which I
had built from scratch. We had given each
man a personal SLS. These were the big
bombs used in Vietnam which were then
almost 20 years old and totally unacceptable
for sniping. I had epoxied the mount attach¬
ment to the SLS which made for a beautiful
side-mounting but the flexibility in the
mount was disastrous. Poor accuracy way
out there.
I designed a concept for an efficient
night-vision device in which visible optics
are replaced with an electronic image, so
you’re not concerned if the sun is shining or
not. You have a heat-generated image of the
target with highlights on the heart and head.
That’s all a sniper needs. The off-the-shelf
equipment is available. The hardware is
there but nobody wants to make it. The
Rooftop billet in Kfar.
market is small. Nobody really is interested
and there are not enough guys around who
have the experience to push this thing.
The efficient use of snipers in combat or
anti-terrorist operations is really an un¬
known factor. What is catalogued or written
as doctrine is 30 or 40 years old — not only
in the Israeli Army but in the American
Army as well. Nobody makes a sniper-
grade weapon other than the Russians and
theirs isn’t that great either. I feel at this
point there is no good equipment made any¬
where in the world specifically for combat
sniping. Modified sporters or rehashed mili¬
tary weapons won’t get it anymore. The
caliber is wrong and the optics are wrong.
It’s all made for deer and bear hunting. The
night-vision devices are for multiple-use
heavy weapons. Nobody makes the gear for
true, serious combat sniping.
What’s needed?
A semiautomatic rifle just for sniping.
Not a 7.62 but a .338 Winchester magnum
which is heavier [in cases] where you back
off your range to VA kilometers. Olympic
grade ammunition. You know the Marines
custom-reload their [sniper] ammunition.
They pull out the Ml 13 bullets and replace
them with more accurate, precision stuff.
ART scopes from 6X to 18X where at a
half-kilometer you’ve got a big head sitting
in there ready to be busted.
Why suppressers for combat sniping?
Simple. The suppresser does a lot of
things for you. First, you’re getting your
recoil down to the level of a .22. You
squeeze off that first round and what you see
in that scope stays right where it is. If you
miss you can get that second round out in
1/10 of a second rather than have the recoil
just obliterate your sight picture and force
you to line up all over again. Your target is
not going to stand there and let you kill him
a second time.
So the suppresser is more a recoil-
reduction device?
There’s more to it than that. A sniper has
problems with muzzle blast. The suppresser
eliminates this totally. You’re also diffusing
the sound. You won’t get this supersonic
crack diffused completely but you can re¬
duce it to a degree where when you’re stand¬
ing on the other end you’re not too sure
where the round is being fired from. Also a
suppresser eliminates muzzle flash at night.
What sort of other equipment do you
recommend for combat snipers?
Well, in Beirut flak jackets were manda¬
tory but I don’t think you can use them.
They’re hot. You can’t get the rifle in there
[in the shoulder pocket]. I don’t say they
shouldn’t be used at all, but a sniper should
have a modified flak jacket or an ahfoad
[Hebrew for vest] in which he would have
an open area for stock placement, all his
pouches in the rear so his front is flat and he
can get down in prone position, a built-in
shoulder holster and a carryall pouch in the
rear for binoculars or what have you. It [the
standard issue flak jacket] bothers the hell
out of a guy laying in the prone position for
an extended period of time. Once he gets
edgy, he’s concentrating on being edgy and
he’s missing a lot of stuff.
The weapon’s got to be designed where
his line of sight is natural without lifting his
head up. Most American, British and Ger¬
man rifles shoot from the heads-up position.
The equipment must be designed to be user
Continued on page 75
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 65
SOF VIETNAM
A TALE OF
TWO BATTLES
The Story from Both Sides of the Wire
Writer would like to interview former North
Vietnamese soldiers for book. Will pay.
Write: SAM ZAFFIRI, 707 Samantha, Nor-
al, Illinois.
About two weeks after I ran the ad in Ban
Tin, a Vietnamese community newsletter, I
found myself staring up at a delapidated
four-story brick apartment house in a part of
Chicago known as Uptown. There was
nothing unusual about it from this perspec¬
tive. It was a typical Chicago low-rent
apartment building — broken windows,
tom screens, a sagging front porch and a
front yard filled with dog shit and beer cans.
They were all over the city. But there was
one thing different about this tenement.
It was home for a man who had once
sworn to kill Americans with the AK-47
assault rifle he had been issued as a soldier
in the North Vietnamese Army. He was
former Private Vinh of 3rd Company , 2nd
Battalion, 141st Regiment, 7th Division of
the North Vietnamese Army. He had
traveled hundreds of miles on foot from
Hanoi, through Laos and Cambodia and
into South Vietnam to kill men like me.
There was no way of knowing if I’d ever
faced Vinh on a jungle battlefield, but he
had something to tell me about others who
did.
Since the war ended, we Ve heard from
General Vo Nguyen Giap and senior NVA
or VC field commanders, but not much has
been revealed about what it was like to be an
enemy grunt. That was the gap in our under¬
standing of the war that I wanted to fill.
Former Private Vinh had said he’d help.
A short , thin, handsome man with slight¬
ly graying hair met me at the door of a small
apartment with an uneasy smile. Unlike
many Vietnamese immigrants, Vinh did not
seem self-conscious or apologetic about his
squalid surroundings. After years of living
in jungle camps, tunnel complexes or bunk¬
ers, he considers his new home luxurious.
Vinh let me know in short order that I
would not be able to use his real name. He
had parents and a younger brother living on
a collective farm near Hanoi and he feared
for their safety. The former NVA trooper
was also worried about the U.S. Immigra¬
tion and Naturalization Service as well as
the Vietnamese community of Chicago
which does not welcome communists —
reformed or otherwise.
Although he was never a rabid commu¬
nist, Private Vinh served honorably with the
141st NVA Regiment for three years until
he was badly wounded by shrapnel in the
leg. His unit’s surgeons could not repair the
wound and Vinh was shipped back north for
more extensive treatment. While he was at
home, the war ended and the veteran was
offered a civilian job in Saigon aboard a
SEEKS OLD NVA
In 1969, Sam Zaffiri served as a Big
Red One mortarman in Vietnam. This
article i s taken from a book he is writing
tentatively titled/"Voices from the Kill¬
ing Ground.” Zaffiri describes his work
as an oral history which “will counter¬
point the experiences of American and
North Vietnamese soldiers.” But find¬
ing former NVA troops outside Vietnam
isn’t easy, he said. He’s located a few in
CONUS. Sam* who has a master’s de¬
gree in English, lives in Illinois and
among other endeavors reviews theatre
productions by veterans’ groups, includ¬
ing 4 ‘Tracers,” a play written and per¬
formed by Vietnam vets which opened
on Broadway in February. SOF readers
may have seen his byline in National
Vietnam Veterans’ Review, published
and edited by Colonel Chuck Allen
(USA, Ret,), who is also SOF’s contrib¬
uting editor for Vietnam Veterans’
Affairs,
by Sam Zaffiri
commercial vessel. There he met and be¬
friended another northerner who was anx¬
ious to escape communist rule.
They sailed together ferrying arms and
ammunition to NVA units occupying Cam¬
bodia, and waited for a chance to escape.
One night in Saigon when the master and
loyal crew were ashore, Vinh and his buddy
stole their vessel and headed for Singapore.
They were turned over to immigration au¬
thorities and both men claimed to be South
Vietnamese. The trail to freedom in the
U.S. led through Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seat¬
tle and finally to Chicago where Vinh strug¬
gles to hide his past and lead a normal life.
Still, he was a soldier for too many years
through too many hard times to completely
forget the war. Like any combat veteran, he
can be persuaded to tell war stories when he
feels comfortable with his company. For
most of a morning, I sat and listened to the
way the war was fought by common guys
like me on the other side. It was all fascinat¬
ing, but I focused intensely on his story of
an attack made by his unit on an American
artillery firebase in the III Corps area north¬
west of Saigon.
As a lowly *’fighter” — the title given
infantry privates in the NVA — Vinh was
not told much about the tactical situation
facing his unit in Tay Ninh and Binh Long
Provinces. He thinks the fight at the Amer¬
ican firebase was sometime at the end of
1968 or the beginning of 1969. The U.S.
unit involved may have been part of the 1st
Infantry Division (NVA troops referred to
the unit as the 4 ‘Red Elder Division ’ ’) but he
considers it more likely that the firebase
defenders were from the 4 Lightning Strik¬
ing Division, ’ ’ the NVA name for the U.S.
25th Infantry Division (Tropic Lightning).
SOF’s research indicates the unit was
most likely a battery of 105mm towed howit¬
zers belonging to 7th Battalion, 11th Artil¬
lery (* *■Dragon Regiment ’') firing support for
the 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division
operating near the Cambodian border
66 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
W HEN my infiltration group arrived in
southern Cambodia, a number of
men and I were assigned to an infantry reg¬
iment. When I arrived at my new company,
they were bivouacked about five miles from
the border, living in thatched huts. The reg¬
iment was a large one with nearly 800 men
in three battalions, along with sappers, re¬
coilless rifles, heavy mortars, machine guns
and a medical group. [Vinh indicates his
uniform and equipment at this point con¬
sisted of green fatigue shirt and trousers,
sandals made from truck tires, a green pith
helmet, AK-47 assault rifle, pack and
ammunition pouches worn across the front
of his chest. He had been issued four maga¬
zines for his weapon and carried a basic load
of 300-400 rounds. In his unit, each infan¬
tryman was also issued four to six stick-type
ChiCom grenades which were carried in
double pouches attached to the belt.]
I was very lonely when I first arrived at
my new company, and very scared. There
were some happy moments, though. I found
an old school friend of mine, Ha Van
Duong, serving in another platoon. Duong
was recovering from malaria when I arrived
and at first he didn’t recognize me. When he
did, he gave me a hug and fired off a lot of
questions about life in our village.
In those days, Duong had been the most
handsome boy in the village. Now his
cheeks were hollow; his eyes sunken. The
bravado and arrogant sense of humor of his
early days in school had given way to cyni¬
cism and a fatalism. He had almost given up
Firebases were often assigned the task of
supporting infantry operations with
artillery. Photo: AP/YVide World
hope of ever returning home alive.
When I first joined the company, things
were busy. Recruits were arriving every day
and the training regimen was intense. After
our evening meal, we sat around and lis¬
tened to lectures by our political officers.
They were supposed to build our morale and
occasionally we were subjected to self-
criticism sessions during which we were
encouraged to admit our faults and short¬
comings. The lectures were very boring and
were no different than the ones I had heard
all through training in the North. It was a
complete waste of time.
The regiment had recently been in a few
battles with the Americans and the political
officers trumpeted them as great victories.
Late one evening I had a few moments to
talk with Duong and from him I learned the
truth about the battles. The regiment had
recently been in a countersweep operation
against the Americans and had suffered
hundreds of casualties. There had been a
number of terrible battles before that, he
told me, but this one had been the worst.
American firepower had been so fierce that
he had decided to call it quits and escape the
first chance he got. The experience had con¬
vinced Duong that he could not survive
many more battles.
Reaching into his pack, Duong pulled out
a Chieu Hoi pass that he had picked up on a
trail, one promising safety and good treat¬
ment by the South Vietnamese to any com¬
munist who turned himself in to the govern¬
ment. He wanted to know if I wanted to go
along.
Ordinarily, you wouldn’t speak so openly
with another soldier about such a subject
and apparently I was the first soldier Duong
had mentioned it to. He trusted me because
we both came from anti-communist families
and both our fathers had suffered under the
communists. Duong’s grandfather had died
during the brutal land reform program in
1954.
Should I go with him? I was afraid of
being caught. I had heard rumors about a
soldier who had been caught trying to
escape. The cadre staked him out over a
giant ant hill and I wasn’t thrilled over that
prospect.
Still, Duong was persuasive and told me
over and over again that if I didn’t go, I
would eventually be killed anyway. He told
me it was the time of the “great bloodlet¬
ting’ ’ and that the communists’ only interest
was in throwing away thousands of lives in
order to kill as many Americans as possible
and make them quit the war. Many
thousands of NVA soldiers were going to
die in the next two or three years, but he was
not going to be one of them. Many times he
told me, “I had to live under communism,
but I don’t intend to die for it.” I believed
what he was saying, but the fear of capture
was still overwhelming.
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLMEIl or FORTUNE 67
My problems were solved for me,
though, because a few days later we were
told that the regiment was going to launch
an attack on a new American artillery posi¬
tion which had just been constructed near
the border. When I heard the news, my heart
sank and I was flooded with fear. I thought,
“If I am so afraid now, what will happen
when I actualy go into battle ?”
There was no way to tell, but I couldn’t
rid myself of the fear I felt, the fear that I
was going to be horribly wounded or killed.
I was filled with a terrible fear that I would
be killed and then thrown into an unmarked
grave like a dog. My family would be un¬
able to pray for my spirit.
In preparing for the battle, the cadre
constructed a clay model of the American
position with all the details of the position in
place. The American position was circular
with bunkers all around the outside perime¬
ter. Inside were artillery pieces and a num¬
ber of mortars and some tents that served as
command posts. An American infantry
battalion was operating out of the artillery
base, sending out patrols by day and
ambushes at night.
For the next two or three days, we were
briefed by our company commander and
other company cadre on how we were to
make the attack. Everything was planned
to the smallest detail so that everyone
knew exactly what he was supposed to do
during the attack. We rehearsed the attack
like actors learning parts for a play. Mock
bunkers similar to the American ones
were set up and we practiced attacking
and blowing them up.
The actual plan called for two of the
three battalions to attack the American
position from two different sides while
the third was held in reserve with the reg¬
imental commander. Fire support would
come from mortars [these were Chinese
82mm weapons normally kept at the 141 st
CP but issued to assault battalions for
attacks. Basic load was 20 rounds per
gun], machine guns [RPDs were the stan¬
dard light weapon for assault units. There
was one gun per NVA squad. Vinh recalls
they were issued with drum belt carriers
from which gunners fed ammo rather than
relying on a spring-driven mechanism]
and recoilless rifles [these were 75mm
weapons normally used to attack APCs
and tanks. They were usually located with
or near the regimental CP during ground
assaults but were sometimes used for
direct support of the attacking units.
Basic ammo load was 10-20 rounds]. A
few heavy machine guns were also set up
to defend against helicopters and
gunships. [These weapons were also
Chinese-made and were issued both on
wheeled carriages and tripods. Basic
ammo load for the 12.7mm gun crew was
500 rounds].
I had hoped that our battalion would be
the one held in reserve, but that was not to
be. Not only was our battalion to lead one of
the attacks, but my platoon was to be the
first one forward after the sappers. [Vinh
AN NVA’S ROAD TO
WAR
Vinh is from a small village in Hoa
Binh Province. He was drafted into the
army at the age of 18 and took his
physical at the village temple. When he
passed the physical, he was inducted and
Sent off to a training camp near the city
of Hoa Binh.
During three months of basic training,
he learned how to fire a rifle, an RPD
MG and a 61mm mortar. He also learned
how to properly camouflage himself in
the jungle, how to set am bushes and how
to both manufacture and use bangalore
torpedos and satchel charges. He said
they only had a few days training in
close-order drill as “it was not consid¬
ered important for jungle-fighting. ”
After completing training at Hoa
Binh, his battalion marched to another
nearby training area and spent a month
getting ready for infiltration. Here, they
were fed all they wanted to eat and
trained by carrying rucksacks loaded
with rocks up and down hills.
Once properly conditioned, Vinh and
the Other men in bis battalion were
issued all the clothing and equipment
they would need for the long trip south
— rifles, movsquito nets, fatigues, vita¬
mins, anti-malaria pills, cooking uten¬
sils, etc. They were also issued ID cards
which listed their names, group number
and the number of their destination. The
men knew by reading this number what
their destination was in the south. One
number might represent northern South
Vietnam, another the Central High¬
lands. Vinh's number indicated he was
going to the area around Tay Ninli and
Binh Long Province.
Once equipped, they were shipped by
truck to Hanoi and from there by train to
Vinh City. From Vinh, they rode by
truck west and through a mountain pass
into Laos, With the original 300 men in
their training group, they were led by
guides through Laos and Cambodia,
stopping every 15- 20 miles at rest Stops
along the way. The rest stops were
usually located near streams where they
could wash up, bathe and brush their
NVA soldiers rush to the offensive
during a battle in Quang Tri Province,
Photo came from North Vietnamese
sources and was undated/ Photo;
AP/Wide World
teeth. At many of the stops mess tents
had been set up to feed the infiltrating
units.
At first, the trip was not too difficult,
but as they got deeper and deeper into
Laos, American planes began flying
over the trail trying to spot them. Once
when they were crossing an open area,
an American spotter plane saw them and
within seconds a jet arrived overhead
and began dive-bombing them. Most of
the men managed to get into a ravine, but
two men were killed and lot of others
struck and injured by flying rocks and
pieces of trees.
Vinh says, “We buried the dead men
by the side of the road and marked their
graves with rocks. As we got farther and
farther in Laos, we began to see more
and more piles of rocks marking graves.
I could not believe how many graves I
saw. We also saw a lot of graves at the
various rest stops. They were of men
who had been left behind after getting
weak with malaria and had then died. “
It took Vinh and his group about 45
days to get through Laos and another 45
before they arrived at their final destina¬
tion in Cambodia. There were a few huts
here and about a platoon of guards and a
number of high ranking officers. Here
their group, which was now about 250 of
the original 300, was split up into three
or four smaller groups. Each group was
then led by guides in different directions
leading to different destinations. Vinh’s
group was led by their guide about five
more miles to another small clearing
under the jungle canopy. This camp was
similar to the first one and from here his
group was led by another guide lo their
battalion headquarters and then com¬
pany bivouacs.
Vinh says that he was in many battles
during his lime in South Vietnam. He
also said he fought against many differ¬
ent American units. Sometimes they
knew who they were fighting against and
sometimes they didn’t.
68 SOLDIEll OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
remembers seeing the sappers preparing
lengths of bamboo filled with explosives
and a friction cap for use as a bangalore
torpedo in cutting the concertina wire
around the firebase. The sappers had been
taught to lie very flat when firing these
devices to avoid being killed by the explo¬
sion. He also recalls that both sappers and
assault infantrymen were issued satchel-
charges in canvas or burlap bags for use in
reducing American bunkers].
Duong tried to console me. “Do not do
anything foolish. If there are fools around
you who want to be brave and get them¬
selves killed, let them but don’t follow
them. ” He told me that in the confusion of a
battle, it was easy to hide and that the cadre
had difficulty keeping track of people dur¬
ing a battle. He also told me that if I saw
anyone get wounded, my best bet would be
to help them to the rear as that was the
quickest way to get away from a battle.
I felt better listening to Duong’s words,
but fear still hung around me. My stomach
was so nervous that when the day for the
attack came, I could just barely eat a little
rice. The company political officer must
have seen my nervousness. He came over
and talked with me, telling me that I had
nothing to be afraid of; that fear was only an
illusion that could be conquered. The way to
overcome fear, he told me, was to remem¬
ber why I was going into battle. We were
going to drive the “Yankee Imperialists”
from our country. I listened to him with
feigned interest, but my feelings were just
SEPTEMBER 85
This 82nd Airborne Division firebase near
Hue was part of a network that was
designed to keep infiltrating communist
forces from reaching Hue. Photo; AP/Wide
World
the opposite. It was not the Americans I
hated, it was the communists. As far as I
was concerned, they were the ones who
were invading my country. They were my
real enemies.
On the day of the attack, we were all
issued extra ammunition for our rifles and
extra grenades, then sat around the bivouac
waiting. With nightfall, each battalion, led
by guides, started toward the American
position. Each battalion took a different
route and we moved in single file with a few
meters between each man. Darkness cov¬
ered everything and there were no flash¬
lights to light the way. Occasionally some¬
one would trip, making a terrific racket.
We marched for two or three hours until
we came to an abandoned village in a rubber
plantation and were allowed a half-hour
rest. The political officer made the usual
rounds talking with the men and encourag¬
ing them to be brave and fight hard. He
emphasized that if we achieved a great vic¬
tory tonight, then it was only a matter of
time before the war ended. I listened to the
political officer’s words, but it was no use.
All I could hear was my heart beating and all
I could think about was Duong’s description
of the ferocious American firepower. Fear
and weakness crept back into my body. I
was sure that I would be dead in another
hour.
Things would have been different if I had
believed in communism; in the cause of
reuniting the North and the South in one
country. Maybe then I wouldn’t have
minded dying. But I didn’t. I didn’t believe
in anything the communists said, and I
didn’t care if the North or South were ever
united. Life would still be the same for me
and my family, so why should I want to die
for something like that?
Such abstract thought came to an abrupt
halt when the cadre came by and told us that
we would be nearing the American base
soon. We had moved through thick jungle
for most of our march, but now we ran into
open areas, fields of high grass which we
hurried through, heading for the cover of
jungle again. Then the world blew apart.
We were crossing one open field when I
heard an eerie whistle and a loud explosion.
Men screamed behind me. A round had hit
right on top of our column. Everyone hit the
dirt. I fell flat on the ground but the cadre
began running up and down the line scream¬
ing for us to get back to our feet. “Move
forward quickly or you’ll all be killed,”
they shouted. “An American patrol has
seen us. Move quickly.”
By now artillery was raining down
around us and men were running madly
forward trying to get away from it. Despite
the confusion, we managed to run across the
clearing and back into the jungle. The artil-
SOLIHER OF FORTUNE 69
lery continued to land in the field behind us.
After running hard for another 10 or 15
minutes, we came to what looked like a dry
stream-bed just inside the treeline. Beyond
the trees was another field and in the center
of the field, the American position. The
American artillery was still firing, but the
shells were passing over us.
A few minutes later, our own mortars
opened up, signaling the beginning of the
attack. The recoilless rifles followed and
then our heavy machine guns. The mortar
positions were far behind us but the recoil-
less rifles and machine guns were in the
treeJine and firing directly at the American
position. Immediately after our guns begair
firing, the American guns responded. Only
the rolling din of exploding shells could be
heard. I don’t know What I imagined a battle
would be like, but I never realized there
would be so much noise.
While our mortars were still firing, our
sappers began moving forward. It had been
decided to blow holes in the wire around the
American position. Men with light machine
guns covered the flanks of the sappers and
aimed supressing fire at the American bunk¬
ers.
It was time to do our duty. Led by our
platoon leader, we then began creeping in a
single file behind the sappers. About half¬
way across the field, we stopped and waited
for the sappers.
The Americans must have known that we
were approaching because they began firing
their artillery right over our heads just a few
feet off the ground so that the shells would
explode down on us. They missed the range
at first. The rounds went over our heads or
exploded to our right. But then a round hit
over the rear of our line and I heard some
men scream in pain.
Up ahead the sappers were exploding
their bangalores. I couldn’t see them, but I
learned later that they blew up the first two
Marine artillerymen pound the enemy with
105mm howitzers. Artillery fire from
nearby flrebases were often the best part of
a day for grunts pinned down by the
enemy. Photo: AP/Wide World
layers of wire easily, but two sappers were
killed trying to blow the third wire. Finally,
a fifth man — one of the reserves — had to
blow the last wire.
From then on, everything was like a
dream or a slow-motion movie. ‘ ‘Move for¬
ward,” our platoon leader shouted and off
we went. All I remember thinking about as
we rushed through the hole in the wire was
that I must be in a dream. I could not believe
I was taking part in such a thing.
Our squad moved to attack the forward
American bunkers and enlarge the breach
the sappers had made. We had practiced
doing this over and over back in our
bivouac, but as we went through the wire, I
forgot everything I was supposed to do and
nothing looked familiar. Our squad leader.
Sergeant Tran, had been in many such
attacks, however, and showed no fear. Fir¬
ing his rifle from the hip, he rushed the side
of a bunker while another man threw a gre¬
nade into the opening. Right before the ex¬
plosion two Americans ran out of the bunker
and I shot them.
Right behind me, another squad attacked
a group of bunkers to our right. There were
more grenade explosions and I saw Amer¬
icans running out of bunkers trying to
escape. Most were shot.
All this happened in an instant, in just a
few seconds. It all seemed very strange to
me and I still couldn’t believe that I was
actually looking at Americans and seeing
men killed.
All around, more of our troops were
pouring through the opening in the wire and
attacking the American bunkers. Under the
light of flares, I could see that the Amer¬
icans were abandoning all the bunkers on
one side of the base and running back to¬
ward the artillery positions.
Our other committed battalion was sup¬
posed to have broken through on the other
side of the position and destroyed the artil-
w m
There are always two versions of a
battle story—one for each side. And it y s
not every day that you get to read both of
them. The camp that was attacked by
Vinh’s NVA company was not Firebase
Becky as far as we can determine , but
the circumstances of the battle were
much the same and the American ver¬
sion provides an interesting mirror im¬
age to Vinh ’$ story.
FIREBASE BECKY
Throughout the dark hours of the early
morning, the cries of the wounded and
dying, along with sporadic rifle fire,
echoed across the jungle clearing. In the
aftermath of the short, intense battle
there was a certain sense of elation as
well as weariness that engulfed the sur-
viyors, Riding the rush of adrenalin, we
waited for it to happen all over again.
It was the second night on red alert.
Around 0300 the morning before, the
NVA had begun their first assault.
Mortar and rocket rounds prepped our
perimeter as a 12-man sapper team slow¬
ly worked its way through several layers
of chest-high concertina and tanglefoot
barbed wire.
Just outside the wire we could hear
screaming NCOs rallying their troops as
they prepared to rush the small artillery
fire support base when the shelling
ceased and their sappers had blown a
route into the fortified camp.
Inside the perimeter the grunts of the
2nd of the 8th Cav and artillerymen from
the 1st of the 30th were busy themselves.
Soldiers hurriedly checked and rechecked
claymore wires, firing stakes, rifle maga¬
zines and grenades. They grabbed flak
jackets and helmets, lowered the howitzer
lubes realizing a second attack was only
minutes away. What they didn’t know was
how ferocious the NVA’s second attack
would be,
“Hey, Logan . . . Logan.” The
NCO’s voice strained in a hoarse whisper
as he tried to get the attention of the squad
leader inside the perimeter bunker.
A he)meted head peered over the
bunker’s sandbagged doorway.
“Yeah?”
“Make sure Lewis doesn’t bum up
the barrel of the ’60. He only has one
other barrel to work with. There ain’t
anymore, so fire in short bursts. You got
that? Short bursts. ”
The platoon sergeant was scrambling
from bunker to bunker trying to shore up
any potential problem areas in his sector.
If the coming attack was anything like
the previous night, it would all come
down shortly after 0300.
The next bunker down the line was
tricky. Not being a fool, he wasn’t about
to stick his head into the opening without
advanced warning. Even then, he wasn’t
sure if he wanted too. Everyone was a
little jumpy.
“Shelliger,” he said with a whispered
yell into the bunker. “Shelliger,” A
voice shot back through the dark open-
ing.
“Who’s there?”
“Sergeant Costano. Don’t blow the
fougasse unless it looks like they’ll push
through the wire. Let’s save it until we
need it. Got it?”
“That’s affirm, Sarge.”
Two down. Four to go, All around the
fire support base others like Costano
were doing what they could to make
last-minute improvements or offer sug¬
gestions while radio traffic was alive
with incoming gunships who were high
above on station to support the defense.
At 0325 hours, the inevitable hap¬
pened . Rockets and mortars rained down
on Becky. This time it was worse than
the previous assault. The mortar rounds
and rockets roared into the camp in a
huge barrage.
Hugging knees to their chests or hold¬
ing hands over their ears as splinters of
hot metal flew over the outpost, Logan
wondered how long they could take jt
The explosions were spine-jarring and
he could hear Lewis, the new guy, sob¬
bing in the comer.
The incoming came to a sudden halt
and the yells of the Vietnamese and the
chattering of their AK-47s brought
Logan to his feet while he yelled for the
others to take up their positions.
“Lewis! Lewis! ” he said as he kicked
at the 19-year-old machine-gunner.
“Get your '60 up here. Now! Damn it!”
Lewis wasn’t moving fast enough for
Logan, who slapped his helmet with an
open palm, “Come on, move it! Move
it!”
“Ben, cover the doorway. Any gooks
get near us, you waste ’em.” Logan
emphasized his anger with a burst from
Aerial view of a U.S. firebase In central
South Vietnam. The artillery pieces were set
up in the center with a surrounding
compound of U.S. and ARVN troops.
Photo: AP/Wide World
his M16,
A bright yellow flash split the dark¬
ness seconds before a rush of heat and
shrapnel from the exploding ammo
dump lit Becky in a ghostly glow.
Secondary explosions shuddered across
the fire-support base. By the light of the
burning ammunition storage area and the
glow of the artillery illumination rounds,
the Americans could see NVA rushing
across the open field toward the first
strand of wire.
Lewis raked machine-gun fire back
and forth to the limits of his firing lines,
forgetting the short bursts and trying to
shoot as many of the oncoming Viet¬
namese as he could,
“Short bursts. You’ll bum the fuck¬
ing barrel Up. Short bursts,” Logan
screamed.
Gunships roared down, unleashing
rockets and mini-gun fire as backup for
the howitzers which were firing fiechelte
rounds into the rushing wave of North
Vietnamese soldiers, Still the NVA
dosed on the firebase.
An AK round ripped through Lewis’
cheek, driving him back against the bunker
wall. He screamed as blood and flesh
oozed through his fingers. Another new
man grabbed a first aid pouch and yelled
for cover at the door cf the bunker as he
rushed to help the wounded soldier.
“Logan, the gun,” he yelled to the
squad leader. A squad of NVA were
through the first strand of wire when a
tumbling cloud of burning fuel from the
55-gallon drum brought them to a sud¬
den stop, The fougasse spread over their
bodies, killing them instantly.
72 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
Logan turned to Benjamin. “Get the
other barrel to the 60 and replace it.”
“The barrel! The barrel!” Benjamin
yelled, wrapping a bandage over Lew¬
is's wound.
“I got it! I got it!” Another new guy
sprinted over and dropped the barrel at
Benjamin’s feet. “But I don’t know how
to change it*”
“What do you mean you don’t know
how to change it, you asshole? What in
the hell did you learn in AIT? Unlock the
lever* there.” He pointed to the black
piece of metal halfway down the back of
the weapon. “Pull it up. Now, pull the
barrel out but watch out for,, *. ”
The new guy never heard the rest of
the warning as his hands melted and then
stuck to the hot barrel. In a panic he
pulled his hands away, leaving layers of
seared flesh on the barrel and raw patch¬
es of bloodied muscle where his palms
used to be.
“What happened?” Logan was
screaming while hurrying to reload an
M79. The new guy was crying, holding
his hands against his chest while Lewis
choked back a stifled moan.
“He burned his hands on the barrel,**
Benjamin said to Logan who was too
busy to stop what he was doing. “Ban¬
dage your own hands, you dumbshit and
get that ’60 ready. You hear me?”
Benjamin turned his attention away
from the wounded and back to the
ground attack. Peering from the bunk¬
er’s second firing position he saw dark
figures concentrating their efforts on the
next bunker over from his.
“Gimme that machine gun.” But be¬
fore he could load the feedtray and turn it
on the NVA, the bunker exploded, toss¬
ing smoke and dust from its dark open¬
ings, Satchel charge? He wondered how
close the sappers had gotten. Maybe it
was a direct hit from an RPG. What did it
matter? The bunker was gone and there
was a hole in Becky’s perimeter.
In three- to five-round bursts, Benja¬
min raked the dark figures that massed on
the destroyed bunker. To the right of the
bunker a second bane! of fougasse lay
undisturbed —- the det cord had been
severed. Benjamin aimed at the drum. It
took some 30 rounds to hit and ignite it,
but the fougasse eventually exploded,
showering the area with flames and fire¬
light.
Moments later, Dexter from the recon
company came sliding into the bunker
followed by a frightened-looking medic
from the battalion aid station.
“Face wound and burned hands,
Doc,” The medic went to work while
Dexter located some machine-gun
rounds and began feeding them into the
gun.
“They’re in the wire!” Logan
grabbed for a claymore’s firing device.
He triggered a daisy-chain of AP mines
sending thousands of steel balls into the
assaulting enemy. A group of 10 or 12
NVA soldiers was blown into shredded
meat by the detonation.
For more than an hour the defenders
held on to Becky, constantly pushing
back the two companies of NVA who
struggled to take it. The thick, choking
smell of cordite and burning flesh hov¬
ered over the base. No one was taking
any chances that the NVA would give up
their assault. Headcounts were taken as
officers and NCOs yelled orders over the
cries of the wounded and dying. Star¬
light scopes revealed the NVA were
trying to pull back into the jungle as
small-arms fire and gunships tried to
chase them down. An occasional burst
of rifle fire spat into the dawn, but the
real ground battle was over at Firebase
Becky.
“Will you look at that?” Logan sur¬
veyed the base while Benjamin, too
stunned to reply, thought of Saturday
morning war movies and Japanese sol¬
diers yelling “Banzai” before John
Wayne and a commercial made every¬
thing better. Only this wasn’t television.
“We kicked their ass,” said the new
guy holding his burned hands out like
trophies. Logan’s eyes registered dis¬
appointment. “Yeah,” he said wearily,
“it really looks that way, doesn ? t it?”
Logan felt sorry for the new guy.
“The only thing we won,” he said, “is a
little more time.”
“We’ll get CIB’s for this, won’t
we?” The new guy had already forgot¬
ten the carnage.
It was hard to remain angry with the
naive soldier. “Yeah,” Logan replied.
“1 think this qualifies,”
At 2007 on 12 A ugust 1969 Fire Sup¬
port Base Becky was evacuated and
closed. U.S. casualties were listed at 17
dead and 49 wounded.
lery pieces, but their attack had been unsuc¬
cessful and they had finally pulled back into
the treeline. Our position was swarming
with troops and all you could hear now was
rifle and machine-gun fire. The sky was
filled with red and green tracer rounds and
flares. I had gotten securely behind one of
the American bunkers and was firing my
AK-47 in the direction of the American
artillery position.
About this time, two American gunships
arrived overhead. While one hovered high
in the sky, the other dove down and started
firing into the area between the treeline and
the wire. Rockets exploded in the open field
as the first gunship moved off and the other
swooped down. We were ready this time.
As soon as we got into position, all our
anti-aircraft machine guns began firing.
Hundreds of green tracers streaked toward
the hovering gunship — things got too hot
and it moved off. I didn’t realize it at the
time, but I learned later that one gunship
was hit by our fire and crashed in the jungle.
Our cadre was attempting to organize a
final assault on the rest of the American
positions. Other groups were moving
around and attempting to flank the Amer¬
ican positions by attacking more bunkers.
We seemed certain of success when sudden¬
ly the Americans did something unex¬
pected. They lowered the barrels of their
artillery pieces and began firing at us point-
blank. I’ll never forget this because one of
our cadre was yelling across at the Amer¬
icans in English, telling them that we were
going to kill them all.
Suddenly there was a gigantic explosion.
I was lying behind a bunker and off to the
side I could see millions of sparks and long
red lines. Two men behind me began howl¬
ing with pain. One of them stumbled over
toward the cover of the bunker, holding his
eyes and bleeding heavilly. He pleaded with
me to help him, but when I went to pull him
behind the bunker, there was another explo¬
sion and then another. The second one hit
my bunker directly, and when I looked
back, the wounded man who’d been holding
his eyes had been knocked on his back and
the top of the sandbags were shredded and
tom apart. I didn’t know what the Amer¬
icans were firing at us, but I found out later
that it was an artillery round filled with
thousands of metal darts. [This was a stan¬
dard, direct-fire defensive tactic employed
by artillery units trying to fend off an enemy
attack. Special rounds were filled with
arrow-shaped flechettes and time-fuzed to
burst only a short distance from the barrel of
the howitzer].
They kept firing them over and over.
Within seconds, dozens of men around me
were screaming in pain. Some of our men
tried to fire back at the Americans with
rockets [Vinh’s squad carried RPG-7s into
the assault] and machine guns, but they
were unable to stop the American firestorm.
I didn’t know what to do. There were
bodies piled up all around me and the
Continued on page 95
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 73
SWF FEATURE
COLD
STEEL
Kali Cuts It in
a Knife Fight
by Lynn Thompson
K NIFE fighting is a living art in other
climes, and it doesn’t look that much
like Western fencing. Although fencing de¬
veloped as practice for what was Western
Europe’s deadliest form of personal com¬
bat, I think it has degenerated into a game of
tag. Under rigid rules this game is played
with a three-foot-long ultralight blade, and a
large guard protects the hand. Fencing
attacks, defenses and counterattacks depend
on the length of the blade, the diameter of
the guard, and the rules of fencing.
Put a fighting knife in a fencer’s hand and
I think he’ll be at a terrible disadvantage. No
longer will he be able to hold his opponent at
bay with 36 inches of cold steel or depend
on his guard to protect his vulnerable fin¬
gers. And, perhaps most important of all, no
longer will he have a judge to restrain his
enemy from kicking him in the crotch or
finger-jabbing his eye. It will be too late for
him to learn that his favorite techniques with
ep6e or saber just don’t work with a short
blade and that his famous fencing lunge,
when executed with a knife, is easy to evade
and counter.
Yet other people in other parts of the
world, where the knife is still the favored
personal weapon, have refined short-blade
fighting into a more deadly form of close-
quarters combat. And any traveler will tell
you that the Filipinos are at least as dedi¬
cated to the knife fight as drama and tech¬
nical display as anyone in the world.
Filipino Kali is, in my opinion, the most
highly developed knife-fighting discipline,
and it reflects centuries of practical develop¬
ment. First of all, most classic blade-to-
blade encounters begin at long range. Of
course, that isn’t the nine-foot engagement
range of two fencers. We’re talking about
the few feet apart at which you’ll just barely
be able to reach your enemy’s knife hand
with your blade. Your goal at this distance
should be to land a distracting blow to any
extremity without exposing your own vitals
to attack.
Continued on page 100
LEADING EDGE
Lynn C. Thompson is a martial artist
who studies Western and Thai boxing,
along with Filipino Kali knife fighting.
Bom and raised in the hush of Northeast¬
ern Brazil, Thompson says he saw his
first fatal knife fight at the tender age of
four. In 1981, he started Cold Steel,
Inc., which manufactures the Tanto
fighting knife, based on a traditional
Japanese design,
Thompson will exhibit his knives and
conduct knife-fighting seminars at the
1985 Soldier of Fortune Convention.
Author Thompson (left) holds hands close to
body, unlike traditional fencing stance, to
keep hands from becoming a target.
74 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
CHUCK KRAMER
Continued from page 65
comfortable over long periods of time. The
optics, the eye pieces, everything should be
designed to have optimum user comfort.
We’re using 19th-century technology in the
20th century.
Give us some wisdom for urban sniping.
You need very good surveillance de¬
vices. Upward and downward shooting
must be stressed because guys will not shoot
low either way. It’s very difficult to explain
to these guys the physics involved. You’ve
just got to show them. Nobody had the
classic shot from being up on the 10th floor
and shooting some guy at a nice shallow
angle half a mile away. Most of the real
targets presented themselves almost level,
slightly above or slightly below the shooter
at extended ranges.
One of the things I learned about sniping
in urban areas was that you tend to position
snipers where they can observe and cover
likely avenues of movement. We used
good, real-time data from the Phalange or
the Lebanese Army intelligence which told
us these people hit this area by day or night,
or they live there, or they’re operating out of
there. Then you get as close as you want to
get, put yourself in a good area for observa¬
tion and just wait until they present them¬
selves. There’s not much new in all that.
“BO”#3
L.C. M
also available:
“BO” #1 (SOF 1983)
“BO” #2 (SOF 1984)
all posters personally signed
to you by the model
SHIPPED PREPAID
Printed in Full Color on Heavy 17V2 x 24V2 Stock
s 6?. 5
Order yours SURVIVAL 3250 POLLUX AVENUE
today from: STORE LAS VEGAS, NEVADA 89102
NEW ’hi
BOOKS <
1 IMPROVISED WEAPONS IN
AMERICAN PRISONS
by Jack Lugor
In some of the most repres¬
sive, most controlled environ¬
ments on Earth, prisoners stjll
make and use weapons. This
unusual book covers in vast
detail the kinds of weapons used
in prisons, how they are used,
and how they are made. Dozens
of rare photographs of actual
weapons made and used by
prisoners supplement the easy-
to-read text. 1985, 5’4 x fl’4, 90
pp, ilkifrlralarl, jipfl cgyigr
IMPROVISED
WEAPONS
AMERICAN
PRISONS
BV JACK LUGES
/wwvy*
RICHARD W. KROUSHER
PHYSICAL INTERROGATION
TECHNIQUE
by Richard W. Krouahar
One of the most terrifying and
gruesome books ever printed.
PHYSICAL INTERROGATION
TECHNIQUES tells you what no
other book will. Covered are all
the most effective methods of
torture, the condition of the
subject after interrogation,
where to get the needed tools,
and much, much more! Sold for
/nformaf/ona/ purposes onlyl
1985. SVi x 8%, 93 pp, soft cover .
Slti-OO.
EUEPDILLA
cipintrsw
ADAM DASH
GUERRILLA CAPITALISM
by Adam C aah
Make untaxed, unreported in¬
come in the underground econ¬
omy! At last — a how-to-do-it
book on doing business "off the
books!" How to avoid banks,
how to “skim” cash, how to
juggle the books, and how to
invest your unreported money.
Millions of Americans are al¬
ready doing it! GUERRILLA
CAPITALISM is the best book
on underground business ever
written. 1984, 5% x 814, 172 pp,
j vyityiiy %it j*-
THE RIP-OFF BOOK
by Victor Santoro
This is the single finest book
ever written on the subject of
frauds and con games. It goes
into vast detail on how profes¬
sional swindlers gef away with it.
And unlike other books, THE
RIP-OFF BOOK even tells you
how to strike back if you have
been victimized. THE RIP-OFF
BOOK is a virtual encyclopedia
of frauds, con games, and
swindles! 1984, 5’4 x 814, 200 pp,
soft cover. $12.95.
DISRUPTIVE TERRORISM
by Victor Santoro
One lone individual with a .22
rifle can disrupt electrical power
for an entire city. This chilling:
book examines in step-by-step
detail all the ways our society is
vulnerable to international ter¬
rorists. One of the most signi¬
ficant books ever published on
terrorism — sure to be talked
about and referred to for ygars
to come. 1984, 514 x 8>4, 1 4 A pp,
sqFi cover. $7.95.
The Best Book Catalog In The World
Free with the order of any book.
We offer the very finest in controversial and unusual books.
The Loompanics Unlimited Book Catalog is an important
source for anarchists, survivatists, iconoclasts, self-liberators,
mercenaries, investigators, self-actuaiizers, libertarians, drop¬
outs, debunkers, black marketeers, researchers, and just plain
anyone interested in the strange, the useful, the oddball, the
unusual, the unique, and the diabolical. .
Large BVix 11 size! Nearly 200 llluetratad pages! More than 500
of the most controversial and unusual books ever prJntedl Our
catalog la FREE with the order of any book In this ad — $2.00 If
ordered separately. Sand for it today. You will be very pleased,
w* know
LOOMPANICS UNLIMITED
P.O. Box 1197, Port Townsend, WA 98368
Please send me the following titles:
SOF 52
Name _
Address _
City _
State __
-Zip
. SUB-TOTAI_
Include
- $2.00 Shipping
and Hand|ing_
TOTAL_
$2.00
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 75
Sand $3 tor our
fOuKdldr catalog.
Irs Here!
The NEW 1911-Al (.45 ACP or 9mm)
The NEW SAR-48 pose.,,
Section SH-16 • 420 West Main Street • Geneseo, Illinois 61254 • (309) 944-5138 or 944-5671
The SAR-48. Mow you can own the quality
without having to pay the price.
$899
Suggested
Retail Price
Very familiar look. Very different price.
Springfield Armory's new SAR-48 (FAl-type) riffce is finally ready. And
we promise you..-it was worth the wait. Our SAR-48 is current 1985
production, and an authentic model of the original FAL military rifle. It’s
manufactured to current military standards as currently used by sev¬
eral foreign governments, lt f s a real gem, with 100% forged parts and
a chrome lined barrel. It even comes standard with two twenty-round
magazines, an original bayonet and scabbard, a sling, and a magazine
loader.
Compare It.
You'll own it.
^ ^ Compare t h e new
Springfield Armory
1911-Al Auto Pistol to
any other similar model on
the market: It’s current 1985
production and an authentic model
of the original 1911-Al military pistol.
Compare the quality of all forged parts,
including a forged receiver and frame.
Compare the hammer-forged barrel and the
a I f-steei construction. Compare
the smooth action and The tight,
snug fit of all component parts. Then
compare the price,
Mothing else compares.
Right?
^ Suggested
Y Retail Price
Kits and fully interchangeable parts available
I feel between 500 and 700 meters is
classic sniping. I’d rather have the guys out
that far than playing cat and mouse in a
window or under a door. Get him way out
there where he can’t shoot. That has been
my rule. I really leaned on the long-range
unknown-distance shooting. I had guys
shoot locks off doors at 100 meters. Why go
through the door and kick it in? You have
four guys that shoot in unison at that lock at
100 meters and it goes right through the
door. The guy inside can’t do a damn thing
about it.
How about sniping vehicle crews?
We performed a lot of exercises with the
armor — to their chagrin — where we com¬
bined snipers with anti-tank missile or rock¬
et launcher crews. Most crews will maneu¬
ver with their commander’s hatch open as a
matter of comfort in the desert. We set it up
where the tank commander was replaced [in
the cupola] by a three-dimensional head-
and-shoulders target with a tanker’s helmet
on. At 700 meters a team of snipers would
shoot out all the tank commanders. Im¬
mediately, the crews would close their
hatches. For that short period of time their
observation was limited. At that point, the
rocket launcher or missile team would put a
killing round into each tank.
We developed a system in the Marines
for sniping armor crews in which we took
the driver if he was available. We figured
someone would have to dismount and get
him out of there to get rolling again and
we’d have another target.
That can work, but look at it this way.
You’ve got guys in a close area and usually
the tank commander is sitting right on top of
them with the gunner off to the left and the
loader off to the right. If this guy [the TC]
gets killed, he is falling down into the turret
and tangling up that whole area for 10
seconds or so. The driver — for a few mo¬
ments — has no communication with any¬
body because he hasn’t heard that shot. The
confusion factor alone will just about dis¬
able that tank where a rocket firing crew can
just about expose themselves totally and get
one good round out there and kill the tank.
Snipers could effectively cover a wire-
guided missile crew then?
Oh, yeah. The crew has more than enough
time because you’re loaded and all set to go
and you’re watching those tanks. When the
confusion starts you could just about stand
up or kneel in a classic firing position [to
bring the missile onto target]. We’re not
talking about extended ranges. We’re talk¬
ing about infantry-carried tank-killing equip¬
ment with time to squeeze that thing off
[The snipers are] working with three or four
tanks, killing all the tank commanders at
once which makes it even more confusing
because nobody’s talking to anybody.
I’ve heard you want to employ snipers
against choppers?
We had perfected a technique against the
British missile-firing helicopters where
you’d have a screen of snipers forward of
your tank positions. They could acquire
these helicopters at 800 to 1,000 meters as
76 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
soon as they came up to sight the tanks.
They usually hovered for 10 seconds to ac¬
quire a sight picture for the AT missiles.
The sniper’s job was to present accurate,
semiautomatic fire into the right-hand side
of the canopy. Whoever was aiming the
missile from that position in the cockpit
would be totally occupied with staying alive
and that pilot would get the hell out of there.
If you fire 10 rounds [into the plexiglass] it’s
like fogging up that entire canopy.
Helicopters in general are easy to shoot
down with sniper rifles. The whole thing is
put together with a bunch of very compli¬
cated, very delicate linkages. You give an
experienced sniper team a crash course on
how a helicopter is put together and they can
squeeze out 20 incendiary rounds which
will make that thing fall like a rock. They’re
firing at all the sensitive parts.
Snipers can also raise a lot of hell with
fixed-wing aircraft. We once made a simu¬
lated assault on an air force base which had
Phantoms on it. We were a kilometer away
from 12 F-4s on the ramp. We simply
showed the snipers where all the good stuff
was in all those Phantoms and they shot for
those areas. You’re shooting at this mon¬
strous target 30 meters long — you couldn’t
possibly miss. We told the base commander
that snipers had destroyed every aircraft on
his base. It was quite a lesson.
You can disable a couple of hundred mil¬
lion bucks worth of attack aircraft for about
20 bucks in sniper ammo. ^
NEW 6 FT. TAKE - DOWN BL0W6UN
SURVIVAL WEAPON SILENT
60-DAY MONEY
BACK GUARANTEE
Bore-Lock Cone Darts
$10.00 per 100
NEW SAFETY MOUTHPIECE
Our guns come
fully assembled.
Not a kit that
POWERFUL
DEALER
INQUIRIES WELCOME
!*.
Beaded Darts
$3.50 per 100
Broadhead Tips
$10.00 per 100
(5 free with gun)
IMMED.
DEL.
you have to put
~l X together.^ ^
IDEAL
GIFT
Selling for $50.00
In Europe
inousanas a
already sold! ™
You get combined:
2' Blowgun
3W Blowgun
416' Blowgun
6' Blowgun
Don't befooled by
other's low prices.
This is the finest
Blowgun on the market
All for $24.98
plus 125 free darts
plus carrying tube
The NEW 4-in-1 Yaqua 6' Take-Down Blowgun combined. Through
modern engineering comes the first blowgun of its kind! Super Speed!
Low Friction! Dart flies out of chamber as never before. Great for hunters,
backpackers, hikers or any sportsman. Astound friends! Has range up to
200 ft. Can pierce V 2 " wood. NOT A TOY, dart is spring steel. Clever kit
lets you adjust dart for large game or small. Kills varmits. Caliber is .40.
Safety mouthpiece is rubber of patented design. Material is camouflaged
aluminum. Comes in its own carrying tube. Complete with 125 dart kit.
$24.98 plus $2.00 postage & handling. Buy 3 guns, get 500 darts FREE.
Order by mail from: (PROHIBITED IN CALIFORNIA)
Midwast Sport Distributors. Inc.
(FORMERLY EXOTIC SPORTS. INC.)
Lucky St. Box I2S F Fayette, Mo. 65248
VISA, M. C., AM. EXP.S C.O.D.
TOIL FREE 24 HRS.-ORDERS ONLY
J-800-248-5l28or 1-800-227-1617 ext. 601
Dealers buy 12 units for only *165 plus postage
Free with each
Blowgun
100 Bead Darts
&
25 Cone Heads
FREE 60-page
Catalog
with order
WANTED
Continued from page 37
behind bars.**
Money is definitely the object of the busi¬
ness of man-trapping, but there is also that
indefinable high that comes from the adven¬
ture of the chase — the rush of playing for
high stakes. As the hunter approaches his
target, the intensity increases.
“First you lie, cheat and steal your way
into his presence,” Burton says. “Then
there’s that day when you find out that
you’re only a couple of hours behind him.
You jump in the car and head his way,
hoping that he’s unsuspecting and will stay
put until you get there. You get closer, and
the adrenalin starts pumping. You get out of
the car and head for the building.
“And there’s the man you’re looking for.
You’re ready for what comes, but you’ve
planned well and there’s no trouble. As you
drive him toward the station, the dollar
signs begin to light up your eyes. You’ve
won another game and the reward is
yours.”
Bob Burton’s book Bounty Hunter is
available for $10 through Paladin Press,
Dept. SOF, P.O. Box 1307, Boulder, CO
80306-1307.
SPECIFICATIONS:
STEEL 425 stainless, RC 56-58
BLADE LENGTH 6 inches
BLADETHICKNESS 3/16' with
1/2" spine and full tang
ARMOR-PIERCING POINT
Chisel grind for strength yet
needle sharp
EDGE Hollow ground razor sharp
GRIP — Shock absorbing
MAIL THIS NO RISK COUPON TODAY
SKULL CRUSHER Tapered semi
point with Lanyard hole
SHEATH
Heavy-duty black leather with
quick-draw velcro fastener
NAME
(PLEASE PHIKT)
ADDRESS
CITY
STATE_
ZIP.
Please rush this many:
(ADD $1 .+ HANDLING TO COO ORDERS)
□ MONEY ORDER □ CHECK ENCLOSED 5_
CHARGE TO MY □ VISA □ M/C .
COLO mel INC.
2128 UNIT 0, KNOLL DR., VENTURA, CA 93003
DEALER INQUIRtES INVITED (805) 656-5191
CATALOCUE g--,— MONEY BACK (LESS POSTAGE) IF NOT SATISFIED
.PHONE #
(LIST ALL NUMBERS ON YOUR CREDIT CARD) (EXPIRES)
OR PHONE IN YOUR CREDIT CARD ORDER
TOLL FREE: (800) 255-4716 SOF
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 77
LEA . . . THE ONLY
INTELLIGENCE
CHOICE
1. THE DARK INVADER For night time intelligence.
This second gan&faugn system can be interfaced with 16mm
or 35mm camera A prolan affordable high performance night
v^iOn system.
2. SLEUTH MINI BODY MICROPHONE designed
lor caverl law enforatnan'. Recover atHe <□ marnlor sik dil-
ierenl: Iraqueomes. Interfaces with all lypas ol tape recorders.
Mini tranamuters are crystal cnnlrtHlad
3. SENTINEL buy delecta*. lealuraa an exdvswe
discnminaiioti cireun. which permits you k> eliminate in¬
terference by normalflegrlimale transmitters m hiyh signal
areas. G ;m bo used with the supplied carrier current detector
to luvd power line transmitters Compile with mslructibne,
Sntenrra probe, head phoney and carrying case.
UNLIMITED CARAB4LITYflHIGH RELIABILITY
LEA oilers a lulu range of surveillance equipment, bomb con¬
trol. contraband detection, emergency supplies, optical equip¬
ment, c rime lab supphes. communication systems, crowd con¬
trol. and qlher specialty equipment. Seminars on alecrronic
SUfueiltlfKt and countermeasures voice analysis AH yl Ihis.
-Lr.d more, is detailed in the alt new 90 page LEA Products
Guiide. Send Sltt.Da lor each copy, applicable as a cradil on
any future purchases
LAW ENFORCEMENT ASSOCIATES
700 Plaza Drive, Harmon Meadows/Route 3 West
Sacagcus, N.J. 07094, (201) 864-0001,
Telex 042073 LEA BLVL Cable LEA
Inquire about our seminars
FULL AUTO
Continued from page 30
caps screwed to the top and bottom.
The top cap also serves as a spring-
loaded trap which covers a butt com¬
partment that holds an instruction
manual, spare parts and a tool for re¬
moving the gas plug.
The high-profile front sight is adjust¬
able for windage zero only and is cov¬
ered by a protective hood of the 98k/
G43 type. The tangent-type rear-sight
base is welded to the receiver and has
an open U-notch adjustable for eleva¬
tion only from 100 to 800 meters.
The trigger mechanism is housed in
the pistol-grip assembly which pivots
away, but cannot be removed from the
receiver after the buttstock has been
withdrawn. The safety lever is located
to the rear and above the trigger and
can be easily manipulated by the
thumb of the firing hand. The upper
position is fire (*F) and the lower posi¬
tion safe (‘S’): This should have been
reversed. The fire selector is a separate
control of the cross-bolt type, located
above and to the rear of the safety
lever. Push to the left for semiautomat¬
ic fire (‘E’) and to th*e right for full-auto
(‘D’). Either wood or plastic grip panels
may be encountered.
Disassembly is a hallmark of simplic¬
ity. Remove the magazine (the release
gsfe 0 *
. usr£2$5 eacn.
o&
CofP 0 '
Lumlnator Boot featured at the SOF Convention, NV, Sept. 20-22 at Island D
78 SOLDIEH OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
UNIVERSAL MILITARY OUTFITTERS
BIGGER AND BETTER THAN EVER
SUPER SAVINGS
★ FREE SHIPPING ANYWHERE IN THE CONTINENTAL U.S. ★
★ FREE SHOULDER BAG WITH EVERY ORDER OVER $75.00 ★
latch is operated by a large spring-
loaded knurled button on the left side
of the receiver just to the rear of the
magazine well). Clear the weapon. De¬
press the buttstock retaining-pin spring
on the left side and push the pin to the
right as far as it will go. Withdraw the
buttstock from the back of the receiver.
The trigger mechanism will now swing
away. Remove the recoil spring, pull
the retracting handle rearward and
withdraw the bolt/piston group. Using
the buttstock tool, unscrew the gas
plug. The stamped-sheet-metal fore¬
arm is friction-fit to the gas tube and
can be shoved slightly forward and
pulled away. No further disassembly
by the operator is possible or required.
Reassemble in the reverse order.
The 30-rd. staggered box-type
magazine was designed to serve as a
monopod when firing from the prone
position. For this reason, it is sturdy
and reliable with reinforcing ribs
pressed into its walls along the entire
length. The magazine follower pro¬
vides for no hold-open after the last
round has been fired. Today maga¬
zines are every bit as rare as the gun
itself and will command up to $75 for
one in excellent condition. Most are
blued, but 1 have encountered a few
that were painted black.
Numerous contractors were em¬
ployed to fabricate components for the
StG44. My specimen is stamped with
G.l. MA-I FLIGHT JACKET
OD.CAMO.BLUE,BLACK XS-XL
$ 45.00
G.l. A-2 DECK JACKET OD
S-XL
45.00
G.l. N2B FLIGHT PARKA
SUB-ZERO S-XL
85.00
U.S. FLIGHT VEST (LIKE MA-1 W/O SLEEVES)
OD.BLUE.CAMO.BLACK XS-XL
36.00
G.l. PONCHO LINER, CAMO
22.00
T-SHIRT S/S CAMO
S-XL
2/10.00
G.l. WOODLAND BDU SHIRT
XS-XL STATE LENGTH
25.00
G.l. WOODLAND BDU PANTS
XS-XL STATE LENGTH
25.00
WOODLAND SET (SHIRT & PANTS)
45.00
G.l. JUNIORS SIZES 4-16
CAMO 6 POC PANTS w/drawstring
15.00
CAMO 4 POC SHIRT
15.00
T-SHIRT
2/9.00
BOMBER JACKET
20.00
M-65 STYLE JACKET
35.00
ADJUSTABLE HAT
5.00
G.l. M-65 FIELD JACKET $52.00
OD.CAMO, BLACK XS-XL
G.l. LINER FOR M-65 15.75
XS-XL
G.l. N3B FLIGHT PARKA 120.00
SUB-ZERO XS-XL
G.l. BLACK COMMANDO SWEATER 40.00
STATE CHEST SIZE
G.l. SLEEPING BAG 85.00
G.l. JUNGLE HAT — OD & CAMO 10.00
6 7 /e - 7%
G.l. OD RIPSTOP SHIRT 25.00
XS-XL REG LENGTH ONLY
G.l. OD RIPSTOP PANTS 25.00
XS-XL REG LENGTH ONLY
OD RIPSTOP SET (SHIRT & PANTS) 47.00
CAMO TUBE SOX 3/10.00
1 SIZE FITS ALL
D3A GLOVE w/insert 14.50
S-M-L
G.l. PLASTIC CANTEEN w/cover 5.00
CANTEEN - OD or BLACK
COVER — OD.BLACK or CAMO
VISA & MC ACCEPTED
min. order $10.00
FOR A COMPLETE CATALOG
WRITE: U.M.O. FOR ORDERS - CALL: 1-800-521-2124
6221 6th AVE IN N.Y. 718 439-6161
BROOKLYN, N.Y. 11220
WHERE TO BUY EXOTIC WEAPONS
EXOTIC x
WEAPONS
‘ ■" / *
an access beck
/
m ^ t
\A
by michael hoy ^
f
- _ >
Large 8% x 11, 156 page*, more than 200
weapons, over 400 Illustrations, more than
500 dealers listed, indexed, soft cover. $9.95,
"...a virtual encyclopedia of
weapons from full auto shot¬
guns to boomerangs...”
— FIREPOWER MAGAZINE
April, 1984
EXOTIC WEAPONS
AN ACCESS BOOK
by Michael Hoy
This amazing book tells you where and
how to buy and/or make all sorts of strange
and unusual weapons. Exotic Weapons; An
Access Book has been highly praised by
professionals in the fields of weaponry, self
defense, survival, clandestine operations,
and personal freedom. It is widely recog¬
nized as the finest weapons source book in
the world!
Here are just a few of the unusual weapons
you can buy using this amazing new book;
★ stun guns * brass knuckle* ★ gravity
knlve* * body armor ★ primitive and atone
ago weapon* ★ bola* * battle axe* * cross-
bow* * tranquilizer guna * oriental weapons
★ sap glove* * teaera * police weapona ★
night vlalon device* * amoke grenade* *
a witch blade* ★ aonlc weapon* * underwater
weapona * aword canea * gatllng guns +
electrical weapon* ★ and much, much morel
All of these weapons and many, many
more are described and illustrated, with
dealer names and addresses given for each
weapon! Exotic Weapons: An Access Book
has more than 150 large Q'6 x 11 pages,
crammed with information on where and
how you can buy over 200 different
weapons! Use the handy coupon below to
order your copy today! You will be very
pleased, we know.
EXOTIC WEAPONS:
■ More than 200 weapons described
and Illustrated, with dealer listings
for all!
■ Over 400 photographs and Illustra¬
tions of the world's most fascinating
hand weapons — and instructions
on how to buy them!
■ Sources for books, plans, periodi¬
cals, organizations, and additional
information for all weapons listed!
■ Complete names and addresses of
dealers provided for ALL weapons
listed!
FREEI Huge catalog with over450 exotic end
unuaual book*! Guna, knlve*, explosive*,
self-defense, police science, surveillance,
privacy, fake ID, and much morel FREE with
every order — $2.00 If ordered separately.
LOOMPANICS UNLIMITED
PO Box 1197, Pt Townsend, WA 98388
□ Please send me. Exotic Weapons: An
Acceaa Book. I have enclosed $9.95 per
copy, plus $2.00 shipping.
Name_
Address __
City_
State/Zip___
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 79
Genuine Jungle Boots . 24.00
B.D.V Pants / Shirts
Sizes XS-XL Camo, O.D., Black Tiger Stripes . . 22.00
Genuine Jungle Boots . 24.00
B.D.V Pants / Shirts
Sizes XS-XL Camo, O.D., Black Tiger Stripes . . 22.00
Gl M65 Field Jacket . 42.00
Gl Jungle Hat. 7.00
Binoculars tOxSOmm. with case . . ... 48.00
Gl Black, O.D., Commando
Sweater .'.. 35.00
Nylon Pistol Belt
With Heavy Duty Buckle - Black, O.D., or Camo
*6°° each |or) 3 for S 15°°
Catalogue . $1.00
FREE With Purchase
To Order Write:
RAMBO SURPLUS
P.O. Box 127 • Richmond Hill, NY 11418
or Call 718-849-9087
CHECKS, MONEY ORDERS. VISA. MASTERCARD.
AMEX ACCEPTED NO C.O.D.I SHIPPING 51 00 PER ITEM
both the Mauser (SVW) and Haenel
(FXO) codes on the receiver. Haenel
made the piston group, Lux the fore¬
arm, Erste the buttstock caps, Steyr the
magazine floorplate and an unknown
manufacturer, with the code ‘QNW,’
fabricated the magazine body. As a
consequence, all combinations of
blued and phosphate finishes will be
encountered on any of the various
parts. On most weapons, the receiver
and barrel will be Parkerized and the
trigger assembly blued.
The StG44 accepts the standard 98k
leather sling. Accessories included 30-
degree and 90-degree curved-barrel
attachments for shooting around cor¬
ners (for which reason most, but not
all, muzzles were threaded and fitted
with a protective nut), several different
cup-type grenade launchers and the
Leitz infrared night scope called the
Vampir (ZG 1229). Some researchers
have stated that the ZF-4 scope was
also mounted, but the only one I have
ever seen was attached by an over-
zealous collector using a counterfeit
base.
The 7.92mm Kurz cartridge remains
a fine intermediate cartridge, although
never fully exploited after WWII. Rim¬
less and bottle-necked, German WWII
cases were of lacquered steel with Ber¬
dan primers. Most were manufactured
by Polte under the ‘AUX’ code. The
boat-tailed, 125-grain bullet with a
steel core left the muzzle at 2,300 fps. It
was more than adequate for the in¬
tended purpose. Small lots of this cali¬
ber were produced after WWII by East
Germany, Argentina and Spain but no
other rifles were ever mass-produced
for this cartridge. The VG 1-5, intro¬
duced during the last year of the war,
some 98k test-bed rifles, a Volksturm
experimental stamped-sheet-metal
bolt-action rifle and a unique full-auto
G43 are the only ones I know cham¬
bered for this cartridge.
Although tedious, assembling
ammunition for the StG44 today is not
difficult. The cases can be formed from
7.62mm NATO brass using a full-
length resizing die. The only available
bullet now is the Hornady 125-gr. Soft
Point (.323” diameter). It will function
flawlessly backed by 21.5 grains of
IMR 4198. Use the CCI 200 primer or
its equivalent.
WWII has been over for some 40
years now, but until quite recently, the
MP44/StG44 series could still be en¬
countered on the battlefield in places
such as Lebanon and Djibouti. Reg¬
istered specimens are rare in the
United States. An MP44/StG44 in ex¬
cellent, unaltered condition will bring
$1,200 or more.
At 11.5 lbs., empty, the StG44 is
heavy by today’s standards. But, it’s
everything else anyone would want in
a modem assault rifle 40 years after its
SOLDIER OF
FORTUNE
THREE-GUN
INTERNATIONAL
COMBAT
SHOOTING
MATCH
18-20
SEPTEMBER W
S' 1985 ^
$ 10 , 000 °°
FIRST PRIZE
DESERT
SPORTSMAN RIFLE
& PISTOL CLUB
Las Vegas, Nevada
OUR WORLD-FAMOUS THREE-GUN IN¬
TERNATIONAL COMBAT SHOOTING
MATCH WILL BE HELD 18-20 SEPTEMBER
AT THE DESERT SPORTSMAN RIFLE &
PISTOL CLUB, LAS VEGAS. Entrance is by
invitation only and competitors must write for
an application. Shooters who fail to preregis¬
ter must sign up by 1800 hrs., 17 September
1985. Send a large SASE to Bill Brooks, 4901
Indian Trail, Wilmington, NC 28403.
Hotel reservations can be made at the
Sahara Hotel and Casino, phone 1-800-634-
6666 .
Photo by Mike Schaefer
1985 SOLDIER OF
FORTUNE CONVENTION
& COMBAT WEAPONS
MILITARY EXPO
Soldier of Fortune will hold its sixth annual
convention and Combat Weapons Military
Expo 19-22 September at the Sahara Hotel &
Casino, Las Vegas.
SCUBA CLASS — SOF’s underwater-demolitions
expert John Donovan will conduct SCUBA classes
for the beginning diver. For more information contact
John Donovan, P.O. Box 486, Danver, IL 61732 and
be PADI certified.
80 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
YOU NEED
GUNS &
ACTION
Not just today, but every day! GUNS & ACTION Magazine is
written for you by people like you. Adventurous, action-oriented
individuals who are compelled to read and learn all they can
about the guns and gear they want to buy — before they buy
them.
GUNS & ACTION
We cover shooting, outdoor and accessory gear the way you want to see it — from a practical
user’s standpoint. We don’t rely on someone else’s word on equipment—we test it ourselves — in
the field — where it counts.
You need GUNS & ACTION to keep you up-to-date with the latest developments in the ever-
changing firearms arena. In each issue of GUNS & ACTION you’ll find:
• Handguns
• Rifles
• Shotguns
• Reloading
• Do-It-Yourself Projects
• Adventure Travel
• Money-Saving How-To Tips
• Action Fiction
• Extensive Field
Evaluation Features
• And More!
Save money too! Subscribe to GUNS & ACTION today and save over 20% off the regular
single-copy price. Send in the order card attached — a 9 issue subscription for only $18,00,
DON'T DELAY — Subscribe today and join the adventurous, informed
readers of GUNS & ACTION!
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 81
WELL ARMED
WITH THE URBAN SKINNER
...it never runs out of ammo
and never
jams!
THE URBAN SKINNER $49.95
The only serious push dagger commercially available in America. The Urban
Skinner is deadly effective and simple to use even if you’ve never picked up a
knife before. Use standard boxing blows for phenomenal penetration or
mount a slashing attack with the razor sharp, hollow ground blade.
The Skinner’s shock absorbing handle mates to a top quality leather sheath
for inconspicuous appearance. Handy boot/belt clip for easy carrying.
• APPROX. 3 OZ. • LIFETIME GUARANTEE TO ORIGINAL OWNER.
• STAINLESS STEEL RC 56/58 * CHECK LOCAL ORDINANCES BEFORE CARRYING CONCEALED
MAIL THIS NO RISK COUPON TOD A V..
NAME
IH.EASE PRINT)
ADDRESS
CITY
Please send the following
STATE.
ZIP
COLO S7FH INC.
2128 UNIT 0, KNOLL DR., VENTURA, CA 93003
DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED (805) 656-5191
(ADD Si 50 POSTAGE/HANOLING) calif residents include sales tax
□ MONEY ORDER □ CHECK ENCLOSED $_
CHARGE TO MY: □ VISA □ MASTER CARD
(LIST ALL NUMBERS ON YOUR CREDIT CARD) (EXPIRATION DATE)
OR PHONE IN YOUR CREDIT CARD ORDER
____ TOLL FREE: (800) 25S 4716
MONEY BACK (LESS POSTAGE) IF NOT SATISFIED mmmmmmm—m-mJEL
VALOR SPORTS
800 STREETS RUN ROAD, PITTSBURGH, PA 15236
PHONE: (412) 884-1333
FLAT SAPS
(A) . Midget, $13.50
6 V 2 ”, 10 oz.
(B) . Junior, $16.00
8V4 ", 10 oz.
D
SAP GLOVES
$39.95
Style: The protector D100 (self-defenders that look like dress gloves).
Material: Deerskin Leather.
Lining: Unlined.
Const.: Standard lock machine inseam stitching. (Nylon thread.)
Color: Black.
Sizes: S, M, L.
(C). Texan, $17.00
103/4”, 13 oz.
(D). Knockout, $17.50
•15", 18 oz.
PAPERWEIGHT
Aluminum, $4.95
Brass, $6.95
BILLIES
(A) #96, $14.50 (14 oz.)
(B) #796, $14.50 ( 8 V 2 ”, 8 oz.)
(C) Penna., $17.50 (9”, 10 oz.)
(D) #720, $17.00 ( 8 W\ 8 oz.)
(E) Convoy, $17.50 (9”, 15 oz.)
CERTIFIED FUNDS, Cashiers Checks, Money Orders — same day shipping; Personal Checks will be held 30 days for clearance. All items
postage paid Continental U.S. All others add shipping. SORRY NO SHIPMENTS TO CANADA. Void Where Prohibited By Law.
Money Orders, Cashier Checks, Shipped Same Day All items post paid, continental U.S. only
Personal Checks Will be Held for 30 Days Catalogs $1.00 All others add shipping
first appearance. The handling charac¬
teristics are excellent. Felt recoil is low.
Controlled short bursts are simple to
master. The accuracy potential is ex¬
cellent out to 400 meters and the hit
probability by trained operators is very
high. Fabricated by low-cost stamping
methods, it is simple in design (with the
possible exception of the trigger
mechanism), robust and quite reliable
under all anticipated environments. If s
a pity a lightened version and its car¬
tridge was bypassed by NATO for a
less-desirable alternative. The world’s
first — and still finest — assault rifle
deserved a better fate.
IWO REUNION
Continued from page 47
but soon many of them changed sides to
exchange bows, handshakes, photos and
business cards with their counterparts. A
former Marine rifleman seemed honored
and privileged to meet a former Japanese
Zero pilot. A Japanese artilleryman and
American company gunnery sergeant ex¬
changed wishes of peace, happiness and
good fortune.
The veterans had returned to Iwo Jima,
but not to take up the fight again. They were
here to make peace — peace with them¬
selves as well as with their one-time ene¬
mies. For many of the veterans the reunion
might be just what was needed to put to rest
some of the ghosts which have haunted
them for years.
“After they took Hill 382 there were
seven effective men left in my company,”
said retired Colonel Joseph J. McCarthy of
Chicago, who landed on D-Day as a captain
in the 4th Marine Division.
“Every day I think of those men. Coming
back here was a sentimental journey and I
think I owed it to the Marines that served
under my command.”
McCarthy received the Congressional
Medal of Honor for exposing himself re¬
peatedly to enemy fire while hurling gre¬
nades into enemy emplacements, and lead¬
ing a daring assault on a heavily fortified
ridge on February 21.
Landing as a hospital corpsman with the
5th Marine Division, Greg Emery of Peeks-
kill. New York, saw more than his share of
the dead, wounded, and dying. “Naturally I
always think of my closest buddies. Those
are the ones that always come to mind. The
fellas who were killed are alive again. I
think it’s going to do us all good to come
back and see how it is now.”
The “Reunion of Honor” was over and
with it came new memories of a peaceful
Iwo Jima rather than ones of a savage battle
40 years ago. Concluded Lt. Gen. Cooper:
“May this day and the image of the brave
and loyal men gathered here serve as a sym¬
bol to all mankind. For if peace and
friendship is possible among these men.
82 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
combat weapons
military expo...
f !
~ ---
A unique, new opportunity! Participate in
and/or visit SOF Convention’s Combat
Weapons Military Expo at the Sahara Hotel,
Las Vegas, Nev., 20-22 September 1985.
SOF offers manufacturers and dealers unique
exposure at America’s biggest public military-
weapons exhibition. Sell or show with over 150
producers and distributors of the world’s finest
military and paramilitary equipment. And SOF
delivers the buyers.
More than a thousand conventioneers — fol¬
lowers of Soldier of Fortune, "The Journal of
Professional Adventurers” — will attend the ex¬
hibition. And they come to see and buy the best
that the arms industry has to offer. Thousands
more buy day passes to see 55,000 square feet
of modern firearms, outdoor equipment, knives,
SWAT gear, law enforcement, paramilitary and
military weaponry.
Exhibitors who have made previous arrange¬
ments may demonstrate their weapons systems
during a live-ammo firepower demonstration.
Previous demonstrations have included assault
rifles, shotguns, silencers, light and heavy
machine guns and 30mm cannons. This is the
only public exposition where manufacturers can
both display and fire their weapons systems.
For free convention information packet write:
SOF Convention, Inc., 4901 Indian Trail, Wilm¬
ington, NC 28403.
For free Combat Weapons Military Expo in¬
formation write: William Weber, 17100 Norwalk
Blvd., Suite 116, Cerritos, CA 90701.
For hotel reservations, call the Sahara Hotel
and Casino at (800) 634-6666 or the El Rancho
at (702) 796-2222.
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 83
"NRE COMMT AWDUUT
from the bestselling author of MISSION MIA!
Green Beret Mike Slater came out of Vietnam a master killer. He also
came out with a secret that turned out to be a time bomb. Because
now, years later, both the KGB and the CIA have sent handpicked hit
teams to terminate him. They’re good. But they’re about to go up
against the best! $3.95
Amazing New Device—Could Save Your Life!
One Touch Knocks Your
Attacker for a Loop
a*s*8*s|;
STUN GUN
Used by Police Departments Nationwide
It’s innocent looking in your hand. If
you think you’re being followed, switch
it on. Someone lunges at you—and suddenly
he's on the ground with his senses scrambled,
from an electric shock by the STUN GUN
It’s fascinating! Simply press a button and
bright blue bolts of electrical energy sizzle across
the test probes. It’s an awesome sight and sound.
Probably enough to frighten off most would be attackers.
No matter how big and burly your attacker is, he'll be
dazed and helpless enough for you to call or to get away.
One tiny S-volt rechargeable battery operates the
STUN GUN. The new model actually works through half an
inch of clothing. It packs 40,000 volts of power, but it only
stuns—it won't cause permanent damage to anyone.
Try the STUN GUN at our risk for one full month. If you
are not convinced that this is the best and most powerful
self-protection device around, send it back fora full refund.
ORDER TOLL-FREE NOW!
■ The STUN GUN, heavy-duty model—$69.95
■ Leather Holster—$14.95
■ 9-volt rechargeable battery with recharger—$14.95
■ Additional batteries—$9.95
■ Save! Two for $59.95 each.
Add $3.50 for shipping & handling.
For Fast Delivery On Credit Card Orders
—Call Toll-Free Anytime
1-800-833-1003
_ For Information Call: (201) 370-4422 l
Charge it to your credit card or send check or money order to: l
IMPACT 2000 Toms' mverJNJ. 08701 Dept. 102 j
Dealer territories available, write for details. [
then peace and friendship is possible every¬
where in our troubled world.”
BATTLE PLAN
On 19 Feb. 1945, Marines of the 4th
and 5th Divisions (with the 3rd Marines
in reserve) hit the beaches of lwo Jima
for a face-off that wodlti leave over
40,000 Marines and Japanese dead or
wounded. The battle that ensued was to
become of one of the most savage cam¬
paigns of World War II, and the costliest
one ever recorded in the history of the
Marine Corps.
Marines called it Hell: this seven-
square-mile, ash-covered chunk of vol¬
canic rock .. . and for good reason. But
it was an important site in the Pacific
Theater of operations. Iwo Jima was
strategically located in the Bonin Island
group about halfway between the
Marianas and Japan and neither side was
about to give it up without a fierce fight.
The Allies needed Iwo Jima to serve as a
permanent air base and emergency land¬
ing strip for fighter planes escorting B-
29s on bombing missions from the
Marianas to Japan. It would be a valu¬
able half-way landing point for escort
fighter planes that did not have the range
of the larger craft.
The Japanese, prepared to defend Iwo
Jima to the last man, had already built a
complex tunnel system as well as con¬
crete gun emplacements on Mount Suri-
bachi. Iwo Jima was indispensible to
Japan’s inner defense system. Under the
command of Lieutenant General Tada-
michi Kuribayashi, it had become an
armed fortress and the only way to bring
it down was by amphibious invasion.
On the day of the invasion, 20,000
dug-in, supplied Japanese troops awaited
the U.S. Marines in secured beach de¬
fenses. Their landing was met with gun¬
fire from an enemy they could not see.
Concealed anti-tank guns stopped tanks
on the beach. Mount Suribachi spurted a
hailstorm of fire onto the landing beach
600 feet below. In addition, the Marines
were hampered by an unforeseen prob¬
lem. The terrain was covered by a thick,
black volcanic ash which made walking
virtually impossible,
Kuribayashi’s plan was simple: let the
Marines inch forward onto the beach and
then keep them there with incessant artil¬
lery and mortar fire. Do not counterat¬
tack. If they managed to penetrate far¬
ther, follow through with fixed guns.
Of the 30,000 U.S. troops that landed
on Iwo Jima the first day, 2,500 were
killed or wounded. The Marines had
made a serious miscalculation. They be¬
lieved that bombing and naval gunfire
had wiped out much of Japanese defense
installations. In fact, only 17 out of 730
were destroyed.
As the Leathernecks came ashore, the
Japanese began with a steady fire until
84 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
Receptivity plus convenient size.
The VanSleek Farfoon combines
the parabolic dish Sound Mirror
of the Double Farfoon with the
handy size of the smaller Hunters
Ear. The result is a superior direc¬
tional receptor without the
widespread large dish receptors
which in many applications are
cumbersome to use and trans¬
port. The VanSleek Farfoon uses
the same type retrograde sound
as the Double Farfoon. Take
VanSleek into tight places. Enjoy
the mirrored sound gathering not
possible with direct receiver pro¬
ducts.
The VanSleek FARFOON is the
most sophisticated yet devel¬
oped of the sound devices.
FOON
THE VanSleek
FARFOON
AUTHENTIC HAT
NEW! 'SOUND CUT-OUT* CIRCUIT
ORDER TOLL FREE 1 (800) 821-5157
BIONIC EAR $68
Our price $68 and that includes ship¬
ping. Optional booster $39. Our Bionic
Ear also comes with a built-in tape jack
postpaid
4 ^
We have the authentic INDIANA JONES" hat.
Now the adventure can be yours!
Small 6%*6'/ B Large: 7'/ 4 -7y e
Medium 7*7% X-Large: 7y 2 -7% i
$22.50 I
POSTPAID /
AUTHENTIC
NOVA XR5000
Because your safety may someday
depend upon the current available
from the battery that powers this unit,
Nova Technologies, Inc. strongly rec¬
ommends that you equip your XR5000
with a rechargeable 9-volt Nickel-
Cadmium battery. Rechargeable set
includes single charger, module and
one 9-volt battery.
Charger & battery $16
50,000 VOLTS!
f SILVER
GUARDIAN
Good-looking silverplate A
outside.. all business A
carbon STEEL inside, m
SPRING LOADED M
Fast Release f £
$25
FREE Leather Holster
STUN GUN wilt instantly
“scramble” an attacker s
nervous system causing
immediate — (temporary)
paralysis! By simply touch¬
ing your attacker anywhere
he will drop helpless even
through many layers of clo¬
thing. But not lethal.
rechargeable
battery set
postpaid
Made in France
'This is the authentic AMERICAN
MADE Nova XR5000. Beware of im-
mitations now on the market Every
Nova XR5000 we ship contains war¬
ranty and instructions fcdm Nova
Technologies, Austin, Texas, your
assurance this is the genuine article.
Order Toll Free
1 (800) 821-5157
MC/Visa COD
Check MO
The Dutchman
Dept. 25
9071 Metcalf Suite 158
Overland Park, KS 66212
FAMOUS
BLUE STREAK«
RESCUE LIGHT
93,000 Candlspower from only six standard flashlight
batteries! Thousands sold to police, fire departments,
SWAT teams, rescue equads, hunters & outdoors men. Its
tremendous piercing beam on land cute through fog and
smoke. Made to take the most rugged abuse. Smooth Blue
Streak polypropylene finish Is almost Impossible to break.
Previously sold for $16.95, Dutchman buying power low¬
ers the price to $12.50 for one, 522.00 for two (* 11.00 each),
$40.00 for four ($10.00 each) and $54.00 for six ($9.00
Please ship:
AMERICA'S FA VORITE
ORIGINAL THOMPSON
MODELS
\TA*
S/Qttw'-
THOMPSON M-1
The Thompson M-1 was the most
famous military assault rifle. Our
pemi and fully automatics feature
original side cocking handle and
authentic military finish.
1927 A1 DELUXE
Manufactured in the
image of the classic,
time-honored original.
1927 A5 PISTOL
An impressive lightweight
sem i-au tom a tic model wi thou t
buttstock , It is supplied with a
13" finned barrel .
\SEND $2.00 FOR
\ COMPLETE COLOR
CATALOG
\AUTO ORDNANCE
1911 A1 GOVERN-
MENTMODEL
Available in .45, 9mm and.38
Super Calibers. AH parts are in¬
terchangeable with the original.
Auto-Ordnance Corporation
Box SF, West Hurley, N.Y. 12491 (914) 679-7225
all the troops landed. Then, when they
were packed together on the tiny beach¬
head with nowhere to go, secured enemy
troops opened fire wittf artillery and
mortars and bled the ranks. Unable to
move any farther, the Marines dug in
and waited for nightfall.
At dawn, troops began their inch-by-
inch assault against Japanese positions.
Movement was slow but this time as they
crawled forward they were prepared.
Flame throwers and demolition charges
in hand, the Marines took casualties in
staggering numbers. Four days after the
onset of the Battle of Iwo Jima, Mount
Suribachi was scaled. A small U.S. flag
was raised in victory atop Iwo Jima’s
highest peak.
Fighting continued for another two
weeks as Marines penetrated enemy
lines with devastating effect. Finally, on
16 March, 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divi¬
sions headed home, leaving behind a
scarred, smoldering volcanic island and
the memories of thousands of their fallen
comrades. — Kim McMichael
*
SCAPA FLOW
Continued from page 43
lamp on my flash, something white
sparkled back in a doorway just
INTRODUCING
THE NEW AND EXCITING „
“M.A.V.™ ”
(MILITARY ALL-PURPOSE VEHICLE) , f
$3,995 h
FOB ST. LOUIS
Assault Systems’ Gear is
UNCONDITIONALLY
GUARANTEED...
... and tougher than the task you put it to! When it comes to the quality of our gun cases,
holsters, gear bags and accessories—We simply won’t tolerate inferior materials or
poor workmanship! At Assault System our standards are higher and less flexible than
most, so we can UNCONDITIONALLY GUARANTEE each product to be free of
defects in materials and workmanship—for as long as it is owned by the original
purchaser. We know of no other manufacturer who dares to match this guarantee!
Ask your retailer to show you Assault Systems’ Gear... or mail $1 for our 1985
40-page full color catalog . . .today!
ASSAULT
5Y5TEIUS
Dept. FF-095
869 Horan Drive St. Louis, MO 63026-2478
Toll Free Order Line: 1-800-325-3049
In Missouri: 1-314-343-3575 TWX: 9107601429
Distributed exclusively in Canada by
Milarm Co., Ltd., 10969-101 Street
Edmonton. Alberta, Canada T5H 2S9 • (403)424-5281
[HDRIE
Competition & Combat Accessories
(OLT
Ruger Mini — 14
Mini-14 Pistol Grip Stock
$45.00
ft Srw.-;, .. .v.v
Ventilated Hand Guard $8.00
Mini-14 Folding Stock $67.95
WASP SYSTEM scope mounts shown above are all steel with
fully adjustable rear aperature sight. No alterations reguired.
1252 — WASP Systems scope mount, blue w/Weaver Base . $49.95
B5098R14 — For Beeman SS-1 or SS-2 Scopes . $ 49.95
“HOHREIN” ® J<t Q
.22 Caliber Conversion Kit * 9§
For the Ruger Mini-14 Series_
MINI-14 ACCESSORIES
1236 Matching Ventilated Handguard.$8.00
1240 Cage Flash Suppressor W/Winged Front Sight, Blue ..... - $30.00
1241 Same as above in Stainless Steel.. $33.00
1246 M-14 Style Flash Suppressor W/Sight, Blue. $30.00
1247 Same as above in Nitex Finish.$33.00
1252 WASP Scope Mt. W/Rear Aperture, Blue.,. $49.95
2105 All Steel “Wooley Bugar” Bipod. $48.00
1273 Brass catcher,180,181,182,183.$24-95
1268 Brass Catcher, Ranch Model.$24.95
1268 20rd Fed. Ord., Blue Magazine. $9.90
1269 20rd Fed. Ord., Nickel Magazine...$13.00
1261 20rd Ruger Magazine... $19.50
1262 30rd Ruger Magazine.. $34.95
1259 30rd Fed. Ord., Blue Magazine.$12.75
1266 30rd Fed. Ord., Nickel Magazine.$15.00
1260 40rd Fed. Ord., Blue Magazine. $22.00
TM |
□ l 1 -3 □
Binocular Combat Gunilght
The Occluded Eye Gunsight (O.E.G.) is simple to use and effective day or
night. During daylight the average shooter can raise the nlle. aim and (ire
within two seconds At night it's just as fast, but unlike iron sights at night,
the O.E.G. is deadly accurate.
To use the 0 E.G. the shooter, upon seeing a target, raises the rifle to the
firing position, keeping both eyes focused on the target A red dot will appear
in sharp focus in the target area. (The dot will appeal in sharp focus because
the gun sight simulates perceived distance.) The shooter merely moves the
weapon to place the dot on the target and fires to obtain a hit day or night
TheArmsonO E G. has continuous illumination tor ten years at which the
luminous cells can be replaced. The O.E.G. is 5V< inches long and weighs
between 4V« and 5 Vj ounces, depending on the type mount used.
An instruction and combat training manual is included with each gun sight
Both eyes are used at the same time, binocular vision required.
#45 OEG Standard Model has 1” tube to fit 1" rings
and is 5.35” long....... , $129.95
#1.22 D/N Includes dovetail mount to fit .22‘s and airguns. Has 16mm eyepiece
lens instead of 24mm) and is 3.75 inches long ....... .... 99.95
#3 AR-15 Includes)seethrough mount. Fastens to Colt AR 15 or M16with
onenu *.. . 159.95
#2 Mlni-14 Ruger Mini 14 allows use of original iron sights. . .. 159.95
#2 H & K Includes see-through claw type mount activated by socket head
screws, fits models 91. 93. 94, G-3. MP-5. etc. _ 109 .95
#1 UZf 9mm model A. B. or full auto SMG. This see-through model will clamp
to bolt cover and does not interfere with the operation of
cocking handle.. . . .. . 189.95
#1REM. Models 1100 and 870, 12 gauge shotguns, (deeds four holes drilled
and tapped In the thicker part of the receiver away from the center
groove ..... 174.95
Ruger 10/22
■mi
Folding Stock $ 67.95
Pistol Grip Stock
$ 45.00
11201 BMF Activator $ 19.95
FLASH SUPPRESSOR. 14.95
CHOATE PLASTIC HANDGUARD.. 8.00
RAMLINE 30RD. MAG.(BLACK)..9.95
RAMLINE 30RD. MAG.(CLEAR).10.95
EXTENDED MAGAZINE RELEASE..4.95
50RD. MITCHELL DRUM.29.95
7]06 30RD. ALL STEEL MAG.W/ADAPTER.20.00
7106A EXTRA 30RD. ALL STEEL MAG. ...12.95
11202 CLAMP ON BIPOD...12.00
11203C CAMO CASE FOR BIPOD. 5.00
11203B BLACK CASE FOR BIPOD. 5.00
11201 BMF ACTIVATOR .19.95
SATISFACTION
GUARANTEED
SEND $1
FOR CATALOG
HHfiV
Hi
C.O.D. ORDERS ACCEPTED
VISA'
P. O. BOX 1995
EL DORADO, AR 71730
CALL TOLL FREE
18006431564
2101N. COLLEGE
(501)863 5659
1+1 l+l
IN CANADA CONTACT
MIL ARM CO. LTD.
10969101ST. STREET
EDMONTON, ALBERTA T5H259
■+■ _M
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 87
FIGHT
BIG BROTHER
1985 IS HERE!
Big brother may be watching or
listening in on you. Fight back with
the most sophisticated privacy pro*
tection systems from CCS.
PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY
This palm sized sys¬
tem lets you know if
anyone in the room
is wearing a “bug”.
It fits in your pocket
to provide privacy
wherever you go.
SEE IN
This miniature night
scope allows you to
see in total darkness
as far as your own
eyes can see. Fits in
your pocket.
INSURE YOUR
TELEPHONE PRIVACY
This telephone scram¬
bler makes your con¬
versation indeci¬
pherable to eaves¬
droppers. Only the
legitimate speaking
parties receive clear
conversation.
©CCS 1984
Send $25.00 for new 1985 catalog with
100 pgs. of state-of-the-art electronic
security systems.
CCS Communication Control Inc.
633 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017
Enclosed is my $25.00.
Please send me your catalog.
Name__
Address_
Phone_
SOF
CCS Communication Control Inc,
633 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017 (212) 697-8140 7X238720
1801 ISt N.W., Washington, D.C 20006 (202) 659-3432
9465 Wllshlre Btvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90212 (213) 274-6256
1435 Brlckeli Ave.. Miami, Fla. 33131 (305) 358-4336
320 North Michigan Ave., Chicago III. 60601 (312) 726-0998
The Galleria, Suite ?405, Houston, Tx. 77056 (713) 626-0007
62 S. Audley St... London Wl Fngland 01-629-0223 TX:8814709
35 Rue Danielle Casanova, 75001 Paris France 297-5600 TX;
CCS215524F
opposite the ladder. 1 aimed my
flash into the doorway. My mask
almost flooded as I laughed. 1 was
in the doorway to a head and the
light had reflected off the
porcelain of a toilet bowl.
Portholes and hatchways cast a
magical spell on divers, luring
them into a ship’s bowels. Without
the proper wreck-exploration gear,
such penetration can be suicidal.
Sixty-three years of rust and
sediment swirl into a brown fog
that no lamplight can penetrate.
We were forced to limit ourselves
to exploring and photographing the
wrecks from the outside.
Moving along the hull of the
Brummer, we came onto the
forward battery of twin 15cm naval
rifles. I was disappointed to see
that the decorative muzzle covers
were missing. Had someone else
taken this prized souvenir earlier,
or were they never used on the
Brummer? I'll never know.
Although the barrels were covered
by a heavy layer of marine growth,
I could easily make out the lands
and grooves of the tubes. Behind
the armor plating of the gun
shields, I could clearly see where
the breech-blocks had been
removed. It doesn’t take much to
imagine the destruction that this
ship was capable of inflicting.
We found the cruiser’s
superstructure and battle control
tower to be in good condition.
Since these ships had open bridges
without any windows, there was no
danger in exploring it in detail.
The steering stand was still there,
but the steering wheel was gone,
as I had expected. I slipped into
the chart room behind the bridge
but came out with empty hands:
no charts, no sextant, nothing. The
Brummer had been stripped by
previous visitors.
Behind the superstructure we
discovered the number-one smoke
stack broken off and lying on the
bottom. It must have broken off
during the sinking taking some
deck-plating with it and opening a
passage to the engine room below.
A quick look around showed lots
of vintage souvenirs. We wiped
away a thick layer of sediment on
a bulkhead and brought a brass
nameplate into view. Since we had
no tools with us, we left them
where they were after taking a few
pictures.
Finning along the deck we found
the chutes that lead into the coal
bunkers. The hatch-covers were
missing and in the beam of our
lights we could see football-size
chunks of coal still hanging on the
edges as if the ship had just sunk.
GENUINE AMERICAN
MADE ZIPPER
COMBAT BOOT
R 5-14 W 5Vt -14 $55.00
10 in. Side Zipper, Cap toe
COMBAT BOOT in Black
finish Elk leather. Made
over the genuine Munson
last. Full COMFORTABLE
CUSHION INSOLE, steel
heavy leather mid-
illed edge, military
beveled jump heel.
Heavy cloth lace.
Genuine Goodyear
Welt.
MASTER CHARGE. VISA, COD’s accepted.
Send for our free 9 page price list of other
government surplus Including camouflague
Valley Surplus
Box 346-S
Tariffville, Conn. 06081
(203) 658-6228
ALL ORDERS POSTPAID BY UNITED PARCEL
SERVICE ONLY. FOR ORDERS WHICH MUST
BE SENT BY POST OFFICE, PLEASE
INCLUDE SUFFICIENT POSTAGE FOR SEVEN
LBS., INSURED.
SECOND CHANCE
V
Body armor worn
around the world
by law enforcement agents
and military personnel!
Box 578M • Central Lake, Ml 49622 USA
TWX BID-291 -1950
88 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
TECHNICAL DATA
MAX I MAXll
Caliber .223 (5.56mm)
Weight (Empty) 6.5 lbs.
Rifling R.H. 6 Grooves
Overall Length
Butt (Extended) 37.5 inches (Fixed)
Butt (Retracted) 29.9 inches (Folded)
Barrel Length
Cyclic Rate of Fire
Max. Range
Effective Range
Muzzle Velocity
17 inches
45-65 rounds/min.
2,680 yds.
273 yds.
3,050 ft./sec.
.223 (5.56mm)
7.5 lbs.
R.H. 6 Grooves
38.4 inches
28.7 inches
18.3 inches
45-65 rounds/min.
2,901 yds.
503 yds.
3,200 ft./sec.
MAXI and MAXII. Two efficient, compact,
accurate and versatile 223 semi¬
automatics... Best by far!
Your choice of a retractable buttstock with a MAX I or a folding fiber¬
glass stock with MAX n.
Check the advanced refinements and mechanical advantages
of these two high-tech automatics:
• Machine forged receivers. Definately not fabricated
from sheet stampings like so many others. Designed
and built to give uncompromising performance
and accuracy.
• Complete reliability. The gas-operated actions
have no separate piston; rather, their
cammed, rotating bolts are actuated by
direct action of the gases from the
bleed tubes.
• Interchangeability with M-16 magazines.
• Adjustable rear sights with two
aperatures.
Cleaning kit contained within the
pistol grips.
Disassembly in seconds with¬
out tools.
Ribbed fiberglass hand-
guards which remain cool
to the touch regardless
of the number of
rounds fired.
Manufactured by Daewoo.
For your nearest distributor, dealer or Stoeger representative
call TOLL FREE
(800)631-0722
In New Jersey, call collect (201) 440-2700
In Canada, call (416) 475-6682
Stoeger Industries
55 Ruta Court, S. Hackensack, NJ 07606
Stoeger Canada, Ltd.
169 Idema Rd. Markham, Ontario L3R 1A9
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLIHEll OF FORTUNE 89
CLEAN, DRY, AND QUICK ACCESS
Vectors Cocoon is both a padded
handgun case and an easy access
holster. Its storm seal closure shields
your handgun from dirt and moisture.
High density foam padding protects
from bumps and condensation, yet the
Velcro® seal opens with light finger
pressure for quick access. A unique web
ladder adjusts over different size belts...no
need to thread the belt through. When
you must draw your handgun from its
cocoon, you will have no doubts about
its reliability. Add $2.50 P & H.
Small (fits .22-38) $17.95,
Medium (fits .9mm-.45) $18.95,
Large (fits .357-44) $19.95
AN EXTRA PAIR OF HANDS
Vector’s TECH 1 rifle case carries
your rifle in a foam padded aluminum
cradle ready for instant access while
letting you hunt hands free. In good
weather, leave the case open or in foul
weather zip it closed to protect your
weapon and scope from rain, snow or
dust. The weight of the rifle is carried
comfortably by TECH l’s padded neck
strap or by attaching directly to the D-
rings of any Vector or Lowe pack
shoulder straps. The outside pocket is
perfect for shells and binoculars.
Regular: 44" long, Large: 46 " long
$74.95 plus $5.00 P & H.
VECTOR
PACK SYSTEMS
Box 444 Lafayette, CO 80026 <3^03)665-9220
A check of our pressure gauges
showed sufficient air remaining so
we took a quick drop down to the
sandy bottom to take a look.
Thousands of chunks of coal that
had come cascading out of the
coal bunkers as the Brummer had
gone down littered the seabed.
Here and there we found
paraphernalia which was. lost
overboard during the sinking: a
leather shoe, a wrench, a metal
pan, a belt and other odds and
ends belonging to German sailors.
One last check of our pressure
gauges showed it was time to
begin our ascent. Because the
nearest recompression chamber is
in Aberdeen, IV 2 hours’ flying time
away, we strictly adhere to the
LJ.S. Navy no-decompression dive
times. Even though the depth and
the time we were down did not
allow our bodies to absorb too
much nitrogen from our
compressed breathing air, we all
made a safety decompression stop
of five minutes in 10 feet of water.
While we were decompressing I
started to realize how little of the
giant ship I had actually seen. The
light cruisers displaced an average
of 5,000 tons and the battleships
some six times that or around
26,000 tons. Trying to get to know
the S.M.S. Koenig, Markgraf or
Kronprinz Wilheim in one or two
dives is impossible. A diver could
spend two dives per day for two
weeks and still not see everything
on one of these great battleships.
One thing you can forget in your
kit-bag when you come to the
Orkneys is a hammer, crowbar,
chisel and wrench. Everything that
wasn’t nailed or bolted down has
already been picked off the wrecks
by previous groups of divers and
the dive-boat operators are not
allowing any divers on the wrecks
with tools. Many of the local
residents who worked on the big
salvage jobs between 1924 and
1939 have rather large private
collections of souvenirs taken from
the ships, everything from officers’
sabers to soup bowls and cups.
After our dive gear was stowed
and while the tanks were being
filled for the afternoon dive, we got
underway for our midday break at
one of the many little towns
scattered around Scapa Flow. In
St. Marys I got a further lesson in
the fascinating wartime history of
this area.
Hoy Sound, Switha Sound and
Hoxa Sound — the three navigable
entrances to Scapa Flow — had
been fitted with boom defenses
and anti-submarine nets during the
First World War to protect the
Inventory
Adjustment Special.
DIRECT FROM U.S. OPTICS
QUALITY SUNGLASSES
AT FACTORY PRICES
Each pair features: Impact resistant lenses•
Handcrafted• Polished glass lenses*Hardened
metal frames * No non-sense guarantee.
FREE— limited time only-deluxe velour lined case
with each pair of glasses ordered (a $3.00 value).
Credit cards accepted. Dealer inquiries invited.
NOTICE: Don't be tooled by cheap Imitations.
These glasses are made exclusively for U.S.
Optics 11 ! To make sure you get the best, order
now and if not completely satisfied return tor
refund within 30 days. ® Copyright 1985 U S Optics"
Style *1C
World Famous Pilot’s Glasses
Specify gold or silver frames.
A $20.00 value only.$Z96. 2 pairs for$34*6.
Only
Sale
$5.95
2 for
$ 10.00
Style *2C
Only
$9*93
Sale
$7.95
2 for
Aviator Teardrop Flight Glasses $14.00
Flexible cable temples, gold frames.
A $20.00 value only $9J05. 2 pairs for $18*00.
Style #3C
A Only
1 $9t95
Sale
$7.95
_ _ 2 for
Standard Aviator Glasses $14.00
Traditional stems, gold frames.
A $20.00 value onlyJ&&95. 2 pairs tor &UMM).
Style # 4C
Only
$14,95
Sale
$9.95
..__ _ 2 for
Professional Driving & Shooting Glassed®
e angle amber lenses brighten visibility, gold frames.
A $30.00 value only SIAQS. 2 pairs for $2fl*0.
tint indoors, gold or silver frames.
A $30.00 value only $0435.2 pairs tor$2^60.
To order, send check or money order to
U.S. Optics: Dept.932, P.O. Box 724808, Atlanta, Georgia 30339.
Credit card customers please fill in card * and Exp. Date.
Style 4
Quantity
Add Postaqc Handling and Insurance $100 peoizui $_
Credit card orders may call Toll Free 1-800-258-6855.
Georgia residents call 1-404422-0938.
Visa or Master Charge i
Exp. Date
Name
Address
City _ State _Zip
FREE case with each pair.
90 SOMMER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
BALLISTIC EYEWEAR FOR COMBAT PURPOSES
The Carbonite® 360 lens is optically correct (no distortion) to enhance sighting ability. It utilizes a new, super hard, scratch and chemical resistant
coating for increased durability under adverse conditions. All Carbonite® 360 lenses carry an unconditional lifetime warranty against breakage,
made possible by the use of a sophisticated polycarbonate formula that gives maximum performance under stress conditions, regardless of
temperature extremes.
The Combat Goggle is designed to deflect fragmentation. In actual demonstrations, sample lenses have deflected .22 caliber long rifle bullets at
three feet without penetrating the lens (see also Soldier of Fortune article, March, 1985, page 10.) To enhance sighting ability, all Carbonite® 360
lenses are coated to reduce double imagery and have been spectrographically corrected to give optimum contrast and definition from bright sunny
days on the desert or snow covered mountain tops to the thick of a heavily overgrown jungle.
The Combat Spectacle frame is made of shock absorbing nylon with interchangeable and adjustable cable/paddle temples. Frame colors are
black, navy, and demi brown. Special nylon spectacle frames also available in mountain climber style (Expedition) with detachable leather side
shields.
The Shooters Spectacle is a metal frame in either gold or black, with interchangeable lens capability. Lens color tjnts are: gray, brown, amber,
Vermillion, and clear. Lens are made of the 2mm Carbonite® material for the ultimate in eye protection.
# 3020—MI-COMPGOGGLE Frame black orwhite. Lens-Cadmium
Oxide. .... $32.95
# 3021 -MI-PRO GOGGLE Frame black or white. Lens - clear, gray,
amber, Vermillion.. ........_$29.95
# 3022-MI-SIERRA COMBAT SPECTACLE Nylon frame, black,
demi-brown, red, navy, bordeaux. Lens - clear, gray, amber,
Vermillion. Interchangeable temples... $29.95
# 3023— MI-SIERRA COMBAT SPECTACLE Nylon frame, black,
demi-brown, red, navy, bordeaux. Cadmium Oxide lens. Inter¬
changeable temple... $39.95
# 3024—MI-ADVENTURER COMBAT SPECTACLE Nylon frames in
black (interchangeable temples)and demi-brown (straight
temples). Lens - clear, gray, amber, vermillion ..... $29.95
# 3025-MI-ADVENTURER COMBATSPECTACEL Nylon frames in
black (interchangeable temples) and demi-brown (straight
temples). Cadmium Oxide lens....$39.95
# 3026—MCAL-SHOOTER’S SPECTACLE AVIATOR Black metal
frames. Lens - gray, brown, amber, vermillion, clear. Inter¬
changeable lens capability. $67.95
# 3027 — MCAL-SHOOTER’S SPECTACLE AVIATOR Black metal
frames. Cadmium Oxide lens. Interchangeable lens
capability . $77.95
# 3028-MCAL-SHOOTER’S SPECTACLE AVIATOR Gold metal
frames. Lens - gray, brown, amber, vermillion, clear. Inter¬
changeable lens capability. $77.95
# 3029— MCAL-SHOOTER*S SPECTACLE AVIATOR Gold metal
frames. Cadmium Oxide lens. Interchangeable lens
capability. ,... $87.95
# 3030—MCAR-SHOOTER’S SPECTACLE Black metal frames. Lens
-gray, brown, amber, vermillion, clear. Interchangeable lens
capablity. .... $67.95
# 3031-MCAR-SHOOTER’SSPECTACLE Black metalframes. Lens
- Cadmium Oxide. Interchangeable lens capablity $77.95
# 3032—MCAR-SHOOTER’SSPECTACLE Gold metal frames. Lens
- gray, brown, amber, vermillion, clear. I nterchangeable lens
capability. $77.95
# 3033—MCAR-SHOOTER’S SPECTACLE Gold metal frames Lens
- Cadmium Oxide. Interchangeable lens capability $87.95
# 3034-EXPEDITION MOUNTAIN GLASSES Nylon frames with re¬
movable leather side shields. Frames - black, red, white,
gray. Lens - gray, brown, amber, vermillion, clear_$35.95
# 3035- EXPEDITION MOUNTAIN GLASSES Nylon frames with re¬
movable leather side shields. Frames - black, red, white,
gray. Lens - Cadmium Oxide., . . $45.95
# 3036—JONES GOGGLE BAG With separate lens
department...... . $5.95
# 3037— Replaceable Goggle Lens. Cadmium Oxide..... $14.95
# 3038—Replaceable Goggle Lens. Clear, gray, amber,
vermillion. ... .. $9.95
# 3039—Replacement Lens for MCAL or MCAR Gray, brown, amber,
vermillion, clear. „. $15.00
# 3040—Replacement Lens for MCAL or MCAR Cadmium
Oxide......$22.00
# 3041 —Jones Anti-Fog Cleanser Anti-static, % ounce.$2.00
r
We accept tele¬
phone orders on
MasterCard &
VISA — call us at
(303) 449-3750.
Sorry, no collect
calls accepted!
PLEASE INCLUDE
SI.75 FOR THE
FIRST ITEM
ORDERED —IN¬
CLUDE 75( FOR
EACH ADDITION¬
AL ITEM FOR
POSTAGE AND
HANDLING. Over-
L
seas ordere add
30%. PLEASE
ALLOW 4-6 WEEKS
FOR DELIVERY
Mail to: SOF EXCHANGE, P.0. Box 687, Boulder, CO 80306
“I
~ VISA Cl MASTERCARD
Card #_
Exp.-
Postage & Handling
4.1% Sales Tax
(CO res.)
TOTAL
NAME_
ADDRESS-
crr y
SOF EXCHANGE • P.O. Box 687, Boulder, CO 80306 • (303) 449-3750 Telex 450129 Omega News BDR
Jones Optical Company, P.O. Box 3096, Boulder, CO 80307
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLim<n OF FORTUNE 91
sold XO cn‘io* cett% ' t '"
•fiSjssss* -
Leather Cases
Single, Double and Triple genuine
leather cases available for all HKS
Speedloaders. Black, Brown or Tan.
No. 105 Single $13.95
No. 103 Double $18.95
No. 102 Triple $18.95 (No Flap)
CORDURA CASE
(NYLON-DOUBLE)
$ 8 95
-BLACK-
-CAMOUFLAGE-
Newest
Model
For H&R
.22 L.R
9-Shot_
Model 22-HR
-IKS Speedloaders Fit Nearly
Every Revolver--
• SMITH & WESSON
.38, .357, 22-J, 22-K, .41 Mag.,
.44 Spec., .44 Mag., .45 Auto Rim,
.45 Colt Long, .9MM
• COLT .38, .357, .22
• RUGER .38, .357, .44 Mag.,
Security Six, Speed Six, Red Hawk
• DAN WESSON
.38, .357, .22 LR., .44
• CHARTER ARMS
.22, .38, .357, .44 Special, .22 LR.
• H&R .22 LR., 9-Shot
*i i ^
See Your Local Gun Dealer
V
HKS Products, Inc.
7841 Foundation Drive
Florence, Ky. 41042
British fleet from submarine
attack. The remaining approaches
to Scapa Flow, the passages
between the smaller islands at the
eastern side, were considered
non-navigable for warships and
were simply blocked by sinking
ships’ hulks in the channels
between the islands. That did not
prevent the German Navy from
returning to the area for revenge
during World War II.
On 13 October 1939, a German
U-boat — the U-47 commanded by
Gunther Prien — skillfully
navigated the hazardous Kirk
Sound at St. Marys and entered
Scapa Flow. He was blessed with a
full moon and an unusually high
spring tide but there were serious
problems. The U-47 drew 13 feet
of water and the greatest depth
Prien could expect in Kirk Sound
was 20 feet. To complicate matters
further, there was a 10-knot
current running and the
slack-water period, which was
necessary to make the run through
Kirk Sound, was expected to be
only 15 minutes either side of high
water.
Two nights before, without
knowledge of U-47’s mission, the
Luftwaffe had flown a recon flight
over Scapa Flow. Fearing an air
attack, the British Grand Fleet left
the area for the North Atlantic.
When he finally entered the Flow,
Prien made his way to the fleet
anchorage off the Island of Flotta
to find a lack of suitable targets.
The events that followed have
caused considerable debate from
that time until now but the facts
are clear. While cruising on the
surface, Prien discovered the
silhouette of the veteran battleship
H.M.S. Royal Oak. He fired a
spread of three torpedoes at her
and one of them hit the bow area.
The other two missed. Turning 180
degrees, he fired one torpedo from
the stem tubes. The torpedo hit the
battleship but did not detonate.
Turning his bows to the Royal Oak ,
Prien fired another spread of three
torpedoes and was rewarded by
three detonations.
As U-47 escaped undetected
from Scapa Flow, the Royal Oak
was sinking. Mighty explosions
ripped the ship apart. She turned
on her starboard side and slipped
below the cold waters of the Flow
taking 833 men to the bottom.
Today, a buoy marks the site and
an inscription on it reads, “This
marks the wreck of H.M.S. Royal
Oak and the grave of her crew.
Respect their resting place.
Unauthorized diving prohibited.”
The wrecks again beckoned us
and we were soon steaming across
the Flow to the bay just north of
Lyness on the island of Hoy to get
back into the water — and back
into history. When the trip was
over, we had seen much of what
Scapa Flow had to offer. But there
would always be more. The
Orkneys and the Kaiser’s ghost
fleet had us in their grip. ^
WATERPROOF
WEAPONRY
Continued from page 53
I have small regard for the Pachmayr
rubber grips so in vogue these days. They
permit no correction of any error in the
initial grip under stress. Leave them to the
gong shooters.
The pistol withstood 1,000 rounds with
only some minute peening of the hammer’s
rear surface where it bounces off the beaver-
tail grip safety. It remains ready for many
thousands of rounds more. I can endorse the
Randall LeMay unequivocally. It has be¬
come my primary sidcann when not on
military operations. The suggested retail
price is $533. Extra magazines are priced at
$20.50 for the standard type and $25.50 for
the extended floorplate version. When
working at the A-Camp recently in El Salva¬
dor — where these tests and evaluations
were conducted — I frequently carried the
LeMay pistol in “The Mercenary” shoul¬
der holster made by Cattle Baron Leather
Company (Dept. SOF, P.O. Box 100724,
San Antonio, Texas 78201). This is not a
concealment rig. It will handle almost all of
the popular big-bore auto pistols. A boot-
knife carrier is attached to the other end of
the harness. The holster, harness and carrier
are made from extremely thick and tough
top-grain cowhide, hand-rubbed with natu¬
ral oils and double stitched for strength. The
holster is lined with top-grain calf leather.
The thumbsnap permits a pistol to be carried
either cocked and locked or hammer down.
The holster can be instantly detached from
the harness for crossdraw or strong-side belt
carry. The harness system can be adjusted
for dwarfs through giants. The price is
$79.95. Elite military and police units from
21 countries use Cattle Baron holsters —
with considerable justification.
COLT PYTHON
People that own Colt Pythons also wear
Rolex watches and drive Porsches — or at
least they should. Colt’s prestige handgun
was first introduced in 1955. It took me ten
more years to gather up the $75 I paid
another starving graduate student for my
first Python, Using a granite boulder as a
rest, he had badly disfigured the 6-inch bar¬
rel. But, that didn’t affect its performance
one whit. A year later I upgraded to a new
4-inch model. I never really cared for six
beans in the wheel, so, a year later, I traded
it off for a Remington Rand M1911A1. I
never owned another until now.
The first Pythons were available in Colt
92 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
Royal Blue finish, which matched the re¬
volver’s carefully fitted and tuned mecha¬
nism. Nickel-plated models soon followed.
Coltguard was next. This was a satin finish
produced by the electroless nickel process.
It wasn’t until two years ago that Colt
brought out their first stainless-steel
firearm. Naturally, it had to be a top-of-the-
line Python.
It was well worth the wait. The very latest
in stainless-steel metallurgy has been util¬
ized. With the exception of some small
components, such as the sights, portions of
the trigger mechanism and springs, the new
Python is fabricated from 410- and 416-
series stainless, including the button-
broached barrel and forged frame.
We purchased a 4-inch model off the
shelf from Colt distributor Aeromarine, Inc.
(Dept. SOF, 7605 Eastwood Mall, Birm¬
ingham, AL 35210). The ramped front
sight, with red plastic insert, and white-
outline, Micro-type, adjustable rear sight
are matte blued steel. The top of the frame
and barrel rib are glass beaded to produce a
dull matte finish. The remainer of the pis¬
tol’s exterior is satin polished (a mirror-
polished version, called the “Ultimate” is
available for $10 more). The black rubber
grips contrast nicely with the satin stainless
finish. They are made by Pachmayr, but
carry the Colt escutcheon. Rubber grips are
more appropriate on magnum revolvers
used for hunting or informal shooting. They
should be replaced for law-enforcement
use.
This model sells for $724.95. Too much?
Maybe not. Colt officials insist that a major
portion of the Python’s price has always
been labor costs. The finish is impeccable.
No tooling or forging marks remain any¬
where on the visible portions of the weapon.
The overall fit of the metal components is
excellent. The ventilated rib is just as im¬
pressive as ever. But, I hate roll pins and it
was disappointing to see the rear sight
attached to the frame in that manner. Tim¬
ing was perfect and remained so throughout
the test. Colt long ago perfected the art of
crush fitting the barrel to the frame and there
is nothing to criticize in this area (which has
recently caused another manufacturer se¬
rious problems).
The single-action pull weight is a consis¬
tent, drag-free 4 lbs. The double-action pull
weight is a very smooth 10 lbs. with con¬
siderable “loading” at the end of the stroke,
just before the break. Those who use a two-
stage method for double-action shooting
prefer this type of trigger. Those that don’t
can have the Colt Custom shop give them a
Tedford custom double-action.
All of this is very much a part of the
Python tradition. But only hits count. Ex¬
cept for its sporting applications, the Python
is largely a police service handgun — and
only within the confines of the borders of
the continental United States, where the re¬
volver still reigns sacrosanct with law-
enforcement agencies. The auto pistol dom¬
inates the rest of the law-enforcement
world.
J.R. STUPERO
Box 209 — Dept. 2
Lake Havasu City, AZ
86403
(602) 855-1998
24 Hours
To Order or for
Free Catalog
and Dealer
Information
We have commissioned Internationally famous
glamour artist Terry Twigg to create this beautiful
portrait. We offer 16 x 24 inch full color prints at the
following prices:
Prints numbered under 1000 autographed by the
model, earliest orders receive lowest numbers - $15.00
Unnumbered prints autographed by the model -
$10.00
Unnumbered - No autograph - $7.50
- Plus $2.50 shipping & handling on 1 to 10 prints
Our biowgun has a .625 I.D. Constructed of heavy 16 gauge
steel, it is 40 inches long. The end is chamfered to remove any bums
that might deflect darts. Our biowgun has a special durable black
finish. It weighs about IV* lbs. and is very strong — a weapon in
itself.
In addition to our 40 inch steel biowgun, we also have available ■
a 24 inch lightweight model. It has the same mold injected
mouthpiece, dart clip and accommodates all our .625 Magnum darts
and most accessories. However, the tube Is constructed of high
impact styrene instead of 16 gauge steel.
Our dart clip slides on to the biowgun easily and each one is
designed to hold 12 darts. Our mouthpieces are curved to fit the
mouth and are flat on top and bottom for men with mustaches and
beards.
When a rubber tip is placed on the end it becomes an excellent
hiking stick, cane, club or rifle rest.
The bayonet spear is round and slides over the end of the
biowgun. It has a screw clamp to hold it securely. Darts can be shot
with the bayonet in position.
Accessory Prices —
All purpose darts ... 3.50 doz. • Stun darts ... 5.00 doz. • Broadhead
Darts ... 6.00 doz. • Dart dip ... 2.00 • Bayonet... 17.50 • Wrist Strap
... 3.00 • Sling ... 9.00 • Center Grip... 5.00 * Decorative Accessories
... 9.00.
24 Inch LIGHTWEIGHT BUD WGUN j dart clip and V Dor." Stun
Darts ... 517.50 plus 2.50 Shipping and handling — 1 to 4 units.
40' Inch STEEL BLOWGUN, Dart' ClipV Rubber Tip,’ 24" All¬
purpose Darts, 6 Stun and 6 Broadhead Darts ... 527.50 plus
2.50 Shipping and handling — 1 to 4 units.
ENFORCERS OUTFITTING, INC.
P.O. Box No. 1, Villa Park, IL 60181
Please send NOVA XR 5000 Stun Gun at 69.95 each. □
□ Black leather basket weave holder $19.95
□ Black Nylon (on or off duty) holder $12.95
□ XR 5000 Police Special Letter/Purchase Order $69.95
Illinois residents add Name_
6% SALES TAX Address _________
Shipping/handling
charge 2.50
Phone Orders
312/941-0615 Ext. 714
□ Black Plain leather holder $18.95
□ N. Cad Battery with charger $15.95
SORRY NO COD s
City,State,Zip,
MC (no.)_
VISA (No.)_
_ Expiration Date _
_ Expiration Date -
NOW AVAILABLE
Currently being used by
hundreds of law
enforcement agencies
NOVA XR 5000
STUN GUN
SAFE • LEGAL • EFFECTIVE
subdue violent suspects 95
instantly without injury
to officer or offender
Now you can put down and
immobilize your subject before
applying handcuffs. The Stun
Gun works through heavy
clothing including leather
jackets. It's small 614x2 *4x1
light weight 5 ounces and
powerful enough to stun and
immobilize without risk of
being lethal or causing any
permanent injury - it does not
affect pacemakers. It is not a cattle prod or electrified flashlight, does not
control by pain but immediately overrides the nervous system, removes
voluntary muscle control from the attackers and quickly puts them on the
ground . . . weak and dazed up to 15 minutes. Works on all subjects
including those intoxicated, on drugs or alcohol.
The new Nova XR 5000 POLICE SPECIAL with registered serial numbers is
now available through mail order. However, a purchase order from the police
agency or a letter on departmental letterhead, signed by a command officer
authorizing the purchase and use by sworn personnel, must be received.
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 93
ANY
ASSAILANT,
PALM SIZED
PROTECTION,
TELESCOPING
STEEL COILS
These steel whips,
made in West Ger¬
many, hold the
original patent.
Gun blued for low
profile visibility.
Small but powerful.
Flexible steel coils
extend from cas¬
ing instantly with
a flick of the
wrist. Blitz and
Sipo deliver
stunningly pain¬
ful blows, rend¬
ering assailants
helpless without
breaking bones.
30 DAY MONEY BACK
GUARANTEE
SPECIFICATIONS:
BLITZ
5ye" closed, 13V4" open,
SIPO
6" closed, 16" open, 10 oz.
Includes pocket clip & hand strap
5Vz oz.
BLITZ $10
SIPO $19
95
PLUS 2.00 SHIPPING
95
PLUS 2.00 SHIPPING
TO ORDER: Send check or money order to -
INCOl
and volume buyer
inquiries invited
.(818) 842-4094
P.O. Box 3111 Dept. SOF-B(9)
Burbank, CA 91504
]
To this end, we chose as our test ammuni¬
tion a^partridge developed for law enforce¬
ment applications. Interest in multiple pro¬
jectile cartridges (exclusive of the shotgun)
dates back to the SALVO Project of the
early 1950s and beyond. Multiple Muni¬
tions Industries, Inc. (Dept. SOF, 230
Lafayette Street, Gretna, LA 70053) has
developed an interesting 3-projectile load¬
ing in .38 Spl. and .357 Magnum. The
primary projectile is a 110-grain jacketed
hollowpoint (JHP) with a very thin specialty
jacket designed to maximize expansion. It’s
backed by two secondary projectiles
weighing 70 grains each. The total weight is
250 grains. H.P. White laboratory has
measured the muzzle velocity at 1,064 fps.
MMI’s objective was to create a round
that would knock down any anticipated
threat, but fail to penetrate body armor (as
20 percent of all police shootings are with
their own handguns). They have succeeded
admirably. Our tests in El Salvador demon¬
strated the following dispersion patterns
through the 4-inch Python: at 3 feet there
was no separation; between 6 to 15 feet the
group size varied from 0.8 to 1.1 inches;
from 18 to 27 feet the group went from 2 up
to 3.7 inches. At 50 yards all the projectiles
remained on the B27 police silhouette
target. As the .38 Spl. round exhibits en¬
hanced dispersion due to its lower velocity,
its recommended maximum range is 35
yards. At normal pistol engagement ranges,
9-10 feet, the MM1 round presents one inch
of surface area at the moment of contact.
Bad news for the bad guys. This is the
ultimate entry round for SWAT teams, as it
puts 3-shot burst control into a revolver.
Two-projectile .45 ACP and 9mm Parabel-
lum cartridges will be available by the end
of 1985. They operate in submachine guns
equally as well as auto pistols. There are no
restrictions on the public purchase of MMI
ammunition. It should make a great surviv-
alist and hunting load. It has already literal¬
ly blown 60-70 lb. javelinas off their feet.
We mated our Python with the nylon
SAS-type leg holster manufactured by Ele¬
vated Urban Operations (Dept. SOF, 1904
Limbus Avenue, Sarasota, FL 33580).
These people are well-known in police
SWAT and military special ops circles for
their line of tactical load bearing vests
which can be ordered to carry accessories
and ammo for everything from a 60mm
mortar to a submachine gun.
The holster flap is secured by both a snap
and velcro. An adjustable leg band goes
around the thigh. The holster is attached to
their unique parachute web belt, which is
designed for emergency rappelling for short
distances, as a rescue sling, tourniquet or
just a very mean-looking belt on a set of
fatigues. The holster is worn strong-side in
opposition to a pouch holding three HKS
speed loaders (HKS Products, Inc., Dept.
SOF, 7841 Foundation Drive, Florence,
KY 41042) and another pouch containing
two magazines for your primary weapon. A
small nylon strap goes from the belt to the
holster’s leg harness to stabilize the rig dur¬
ing rappel. Available in O.D., black or
camouflage, all of this equipment is out¬
standing and very comfortable.
Very interesting. Now all you have to do
is to pick one of the above and you 'll never
have to clean another firearm as long as you
live. Right? Wrong. Stainless-steel fireanhs
need every bit as much attention after firing
as do carbon-steel guns. Their virtue lies
with their ability to withstand tropical
assaults on them when carried everyday
next to your sweating, stinking body in a
fetid, dripping jungle or on a Coast Guard
cutter off the Florida Keys. But, they still
need to be cleaned after firing and lubricated
periodically.
Dangerous as it is, 1 still use perchlorate
ethylene (“perk” dry cleaning fluid) — in a
well-ventilated area — to clean and de¬
grease even stainless-steel firearms. Stain¬
less-steel bores can be scrubbed with the
same brushes and potions you use on car¬
bon-steel firearms. Lubricants are a differ¬
ent ball of wax. Normal lubricants do not
adhere to stainless-steel surfaces and we
still need protection from friction and gall¬
ing, if not rust prevention. Four products
that I know of are specifically designed for
stainless-steel firearms: CS Lubricant,
Bullseye Gun Lube, RIG +P Stainless
Steel Lube and BF oil. They all work. 1
prefer the BF low-viscosity oil for dropping
into trigger mechanisms and other hard to
reach places. RIG + P is excellent for bear¬
ing surfaces, such as the slide and frame
contact areas.
So there you have it. What better place to
test stainless-steel handguns than in El Sal¬
vador? We didn’t leave the pistols overnight
in a bedpan full of salt water. We didn’t don
scuba gear and attempt to fire them in a
country club swimming pool either. No, we
put them through their paces in the very
real, very violent and very dangerous world
of San Salvador, El Salvador, Central
America where they were carried and used.
All returned to the states without a blemish.
Based on those tests, I — and the Salva¬
doran Army officers and soldiers who par¬
ticipated in the tests and evaluations — can
recommend both the Randall LeMay and
the Walther PPK/S, if your anticipated user
environment justifies the added expense of
stainless steel. *
COMMAND
GUIDANCE
Continued from page 2
you instead to the works of Hitler
and Stalin, or perhaps to their most
notorious understudies in the
Western Hemisphere, Fidel Castro
and Daniel Ortega.
The First Amendment guaran¬
tees five rights, as in Bill of Rights:
Freedom of religion, freedom of
speech, freedom of the press, the
freedom of peaceable assembly
and the freedom to petition the
94 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
government to correct perceived
wrongs. Supporters of the Soviet-
backed communist tyranny in Cen¬
tral America are trying to beat us
with our own rules by exploiting
four points of the First Amendment
to abolish the fifth. In this manner
they hope to gradually chip away at
the human rights and privileges
that put this country — despite its
problems — head and shoulders
above all others when it comes to
personal freedom.
By their own admission, one of
the primary goals of Witness for
Peace and its allied groups is to put
this magazine out of business: to
blot out our freedom of the press. 1
have heard through various intelli¬
gence sources of communist-
backed Cuban and Nicaraguan
cadres who have discussed the
viability of committing violent acts
against the magazine and its staff
members because of our outspoken
support of anti-communist move¬
ments in Central America and else¬
where. We are not surprised that
they have chosen instead a more
moderate (and safer) alternative:
propaganda and misinformation.
Their tactic is transparent. Such
propaganda could never succeed
without their ability to exploit free¬
dom of religion, the right to free
speech (whether their speech be
true or not), the freedom to peace¬
ably demonstrate against us in pub¬
lic and their right to lobby Con¬
gress. By using these basic tenets
of democracy, they hope to destroy
the freedom of the press that Sol¬
dier of Fortune and all publications
in this country hold so dear.
Ask about freedom of the press in
the Soviet Union. YouTl only get
“official responses” from the state
paper, Pravda, or the Communist
Party paper, fzvestia , because
these are the only types of publica¬
tions that are allowed to exist. La
Prensa is widely acknowledged as
the only paper in Nicaragua not
absolutely under control of the
state. Some days they print a blank
front page because the content is
censored by Sandinista communist
officials.
More puzzling, however, are the
U.S. church groups that allow
themselves to be exploited by the
communists in Nicaragua and El
Salvador to serve the expansionist
ends of the political masters in
Moscow and Havana. These church
groups supporting “refugees” from
Central America tend to support
only those people who speak of
oppression by the popularly
elected Salvadoran government or
the anti-Sandinista rebels in Nica¬
ragua. Never do we hear of these
religiously sponsored organiza¬
tions helping out campesinos who
have been victims of documented
atrocities by the communist re¬
gime in Managua or the rebel ter¬
rorists in El Salvador. They don’t
mention the government troops in
Nicaragua who pose as Freedom
Fighters when they go out to rape
and murder their own innocent
citizens, or the rebel guerrillas in El
Salvador who dress as government
troops when they go into villages to
execute mayors, destroy public
property and terrorize the populace
into support.
1 can assume only one of two
things about these church groups.
Either they really are communists
at heart, or they haven’t read about
the iron-fisted campaigns against
organized religion in the Soviet
Union, Afghanistan, North Korea,
Vietnam, Poland, Nicaragua....
We know the leaders of groups
like Witness for Peace are com¬
munists. And we intend to prove it.
Watch for the story in Soldier of
Fortune Magazine. ^
TWO BATTLES
Continued from page 73
wounded were pushing me to get behind the
cover of the bunker. I looked around for my
platoon and squad leaders but couldn’t see
them anywhere. Behind me, men were run¬
ning out of the opening in the wire while
other men were helping the wounded or
dragging their dead comrades. Sometimes
you would see two or three men running just
as the American guns would fire. Their
bodies just disappeared.
I knew that if I stayed where I was, death
would soon find me so I finally got up and
ran as fast as I could out of the wire and back
across the field. There was a wounded man
crawling across the field so I stopped
another running man and together we
picked him up and carried him back to the
treeline. The man had been hit in the stom¬
ach and in the leg and we got some porters
who bandaged him and put him on a ham¬
mock.
Things were hot even in the treeline be¬
cause the Americans were shelling it also.
Two or three shells were landing every few
seconds. They were also firing phosphorous
rounds and in a number of places the jungle
was burning like a big torch. It was a terrible
thing to see. There were wounded every¬
where being carried on hammocks by por¬
ters or holding bandages to their own
wounds. Most were moaning and crying
from the pain.
I thought for sure we would all die there
under the American shells, but our cadre
managed to work quickly and organize the
withdrawal. They took a different route than
the one we had arrived on, traveling in the
opposite direction through thick jungle. We
were lucky because the Americans did not
he ART
5end To:
LARCIMT., 736 Industry Rd., Longwood, PL
Let's face
it — there's
newer been anything
else like it! A cyclic rate of over
3,000 BB's per minute with an
effective range of over 50 yards gives the i_nn^ mi., mausuy rv
fuil auto M19-A some pretty impressive I 32750 (305)339-6699
statistics! Power it with compressed air or TMI5 MUST BE SIGHED,
convenient 1 pound cans of freon — I
performance is delivered! 5o get your
M19-A — or Ml 9-AMP (pistol version) I
today and put some state of the art
excitement in your shooting fun.
I Affirm That 1 Am 18 Years Or Older,
Signed_
5end Me: □ M19-A Q M19-AMP □ Both
Print Or Type The Poliowing:
ha me_
$39.00 each or both for $75.00 | street_
Off ER VK>D WHERE PROHIHfTIID BY LAW. n FODOTT5ADD5% 5ALE5TAX City.
5tate_
Zip.
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 95
SURVIVAL BOOKS
WEAPONS MANUALS
tanpnhansto. Iliiutrated uauiwU providing the totMwrlng data: tflusumbfy and
raamraMy, malntaaanca and cteMiag, op* ration, and description and technical date.
Colt 45 Auto Pistol: military manuals, 98 pages, drawings and photos $7.95
Haltock's 45 Auto Handbook: history, operation, lakedown,
maintenance, modifications, accunzing 13.95
Know Your 45 Auto Pistols: for the collector, history, models, senal numbers,
proof marks as well as function and field stripping data 8.50
Ml, M1A1, M2, and M3 30 Cal Carbine 9.95
AR-15. M-16, M16A1 11.00 Ruger Carbine Cookbook. Mim-14
Ml, MIC, MID, Garand 9.95 and 10/22 Operational Manual
M-14 Rifle 7.95 8 Accesssory Guide 6.50
F.N. F.A.L. 7.62 8.95 Mini-14 Exotic Weapons Syslem.
UZt 9mm Submachine Gun 6 95 Selective Fire, Silencer,
Browning Hi Power 7,75 & More 14.00
Ingram MAC-10 6.00 AR-7 Exotic Weapons System,
WaJther P-38 7 95 Selective Fire, Silencer, 8 More 14.00
AK-47 Assault Ritte 8.95 G3 (Selecirve Fire HK91) 8.00
LugerP-08 6 95 HK33 {Selective Fire HK93) 8.00
SEMI^a^ FULLY
FULL AUTOMATIC CONVERSION BOOKS
Practical method* ts ramrart yeur rami-wto wupen to full auto or utectlvo Are tbeuid
tee need irtu.
Full Auto Volume 1 AR-15 $6.95
Volume 2 UZI 6.95
Volume 3 MAC-10 6.95
Volume 4 Semi Auto Tompson 6.95
Volume 5 Ml Carbine to M2 6.95
Full Auto Modification Manual, HK91, HK93,
MAC-10, MAC-11, AR-15, Mim-14, Ml Carbine 12.00
Home Workshop Guns Vd. 1: Constructing the Submachine Gun 12.00
Automatic Firearms Design Book Vd. 2 Conversion ol Coll .45 Pistol,
HK91, HK93. Winchester ‘64. Winchester 490. plus orig. projects 14.00
Afl-7 Escire HOD
Submachine Gun Handbook 1 ^ 96
Inpra^Md WMpcrra cl the American 8M
wiC-ip 4^ AGP Sijsrr^fvrw Gixi Raider F*a*3- __ i-M
SURVIVAL BOOKS • (818) 763-0804
H m Mhgngtp GH. No. HbHrmtml. C* 0l»1. Ah*: NSrttr. Prices
^jbjEAi lu Eti&fgH. Orders jald Aiiih man Et Uriel or credit card sent
immidltfrty. peiMnH ehtflk a^dirs ntsld i rftete Catalog SZ.OO.
Helicopter resupply kept many remote
American firebases alive during enemy
seiges. Photo: AP/Wide World
detect our route and after a while, we were
able to escape from the shelling.
An hour later, we came to another aban¬
doned village. Here everyone rested for
awhile.The medics went around bandaging
wounds again and preparing the wounded
for the journey to the hospital which was
still miles away. Some of the wounded had
only minor wounds, but there were many
horribly mangled; many had lost legs and
FLAK
Continued from page 8
H appy
READERS...
Sirs:
1 want to thank and congratulate
Peter Kokalis for the best article 1
have ever read on this 'parade
horse’ of the Belgian light weapons
(“Belgium’s Magnificent MG,” SOF,
March ’85). I also really appreciated
Dr. John Padgett’s piece (“Who
Killed Pedro Chamorro?” SOF,
March ’85). I do not write your
STARLIGHT SCOPE
AN/PVS-4
2nd Generation
New Current Military Issue
FEATURES
• 500 to 700 Meter Recognition Range
• 25mm 2nd Generation Image Intensifier
• 4 X Optical System • Illuminated Reticle
• Muzzle Flash Protection
• Manual Tube Gain,Control
OOQCH New w/Reconditioned Image
wtoDU Intensifier (30 Day Wty.)
. All Factory New to Mil. Spec.
$3895 (1 Yr. Wty.)
Add $15.00 UPS
Cxcalitmr enterprises
P.O. box 266 Emmaus, Pa. 18049
(215) 967-3443
SHIPPED COMPLETE WITH
• Night Vision Sight
• Daylight Filter • 2 Batteries
• Combat Eye Guard
• Manual and Cleaning Kit
• Vinyl Field Bag
• Metal Storage Chest
• AR15/M16 Mount
“Night Vision Is Our Only Business”
Send $3.00 for our illustrated catalog
arms or had been wounded vin the facg or
Stomach. Looking at therh, 1 could not see
how most of them could possibly lwe after
being hauled on a ttatfimock f3r miles.
Many did bleed to death.
The bodies of the dead that weje^brought
out were stripped of *their persona! belong¬
ings and valuables and then thrown into\
previously prepared graves nearby. There
was no religious ceremony and two or three
men were dumped into some of the holes,
one on top of the other. I heard later that the
cadre kept a list of the coordinates of the
gravesites and that they were sent back to
Hanoi so the bodies could be dug up after
the war, but I could not see how they could
possibly locate those graves years later.
I was happy to be alive but my joy quickly
disappeared. While we rested at the village,
I discovered that Duong hadn’t returned
with his platoon. Nor was he among the
dead or the wounded. I asked a number of
people if they had seen him, but no one had.
When we got back to Cambodia, I talked
with a man from another platoon who said
he had seen Duong killed. The knowledge
that Duong was probably lying in some un¬
marked grave far from his family and ances¬
tors filled me with a great sadness. It also
made me sad to think that even though
Duong had hated communism, he had end¬
ed up dying for it. ^
magazine every time 1 read a good
article but this time 1 had to make an
exception. Thank you.
Hans Bombeke
Flanders, Belgium
Every month 1 must travel over
100 miles for my copy of Soldier of
Fortune. It is well worth it. You guys
just keep getting better and better. 1
particularly like Bill Bagwell’s
columns. I wish much prosperity to a
great team and thanks.
Philip D. Skinner
Suffolk, England
Thank you, sirs. We appreciate
your support, your kind words and
going to the trouble to communicate
them.
A fghan
REFUGEES...
Sirs:
No journal has responded as
admirably as SOF in keeping the
Free World informed on the events
in Afghanistan since December
1979, nor has any organization been
so forthright in seeking to assist the
Afghan Freedom Fighters. I would
like to bring to your readers’
attention another great need that has
96 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
arisen as a result of the Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan. I refer to
the plight of more than four million
refugees crowding the 300-plus
camps along the Pakistan border.
They need food and medical
assistance. Donations may be sent
to: Afghan Refugee Fund, P.O. Box
176, Los Altos, CA 94022. Thanks.
James Hill
Seattle, Wash.
EEKING
INFO...
Sirs:
I’m seeking information from SOF
readers concerning battlefield
incidents in which the carefully
aimed fire of one or two infantrymen
played a crucial role in the outcome
of the fire fight. I’m also interested in
accounts of military clashes in which
the pistol played a deciding part.
Include date of incident, unit and
marksmanship training of involved
personnel. Responses should go to
Dept. SOF, P.O. Box 368. Thanks.
F.L. Greaves
San Rafael, Calif. 94915
AMBO
RAVE...
Sirs:
After reading your article
(“Ramho: First Blood II,” SOF, June
’85) I went to see the movie. It was
an okay movie but the message was
very strong. Thank you, Sly
Stallone. Technically I found the
movie to be very well-done until
toward the end when he blows away
the Soviet Mi-24A helicopter. He
fires a LAW with a chopper full of
POW/MlAs in back. What about the
back-blast? They dropped the ball
on that one. I’ve fired a few of those
things and what comes out the back
can ruin your whole day. Overall,
though, 1 enjoyed the movie. Carry
on. Your mag is tops.
Paul J. Brucker
Utica, N.Y.
W RITE A
FREEDOM FIGHTER...
Sirs:
I must commend you on your
efforts in Central America. Is it
possible to have some kind of
correspondence with the gallant
rebels in this area? Are there ways to
help them other than financial and
material support?
Scott Bowen
Ellenwood, Georgia
SOF has received quite a few
letters from readers who wish to get
in touch with freedom fighters in
Nicaragua. Getting mail in the field
would be a great morale booster for
these guys. But remember ; many of
them are in areas where mail cannot
be delivered , most of them do not
speak English , and some don’t read
or write at all. This would be a great
contribution outside of sending
\
y
This is the way it will
happen!
It’s 3:00 A.M. and your position is
under attack. Be abte to see your
opponent at night.
U.S. Military Parachute Flares
These are original unused night
illumination flares as used by the U.S.
military. Not a toy or common fire¬
works. They are fired from any
weapon with a standard size flash
hider (AR-15, AR-180, M-1, M-1 car¬
bine, HK-91, HK-93 etc.) by using a
standard grenade launcher blank.
Light your killing zone. Each flare will
illuminate thousands of square feet of
terrain for 25-30 seconds as .it
decends, by parachute, from its 600'
altitude. All flares are shipped in their
original sealed tube and are in strictly
Grade I condition.
ORDER FORM
Please ship the following items. I certify that I am
over 18 years of age and that these items will be
used strictly for emergency illumination. Phoenix
Systems, Inc. and its officers and employees take
no responsibility for property damage or injury
resulting from the misuse or improper use of any
of these items, nor do they warranty the ser¬
viceability thereof.
Name
Address
City State Zip
Signature (Necessary to send Merchandise)
Ordering Information
Flares: $15.00 each, 3 or more $13.50, and 12 or
more $12.00 each.
Grenade Launcher Blanks: $4.00 each, 3 or more
$3.50, and 12 or more $3.00 each. (Specify
Caliber: 30*06, 30 Cal. Carbine, .233. or .308)
Shipping and Handling Add $3.00
Please Send Me:
Flares: _
Grenade Launcher Blanks: -—
Caliber: _
O I enclose my check or money order for $ -
or please charge to □ VISA or □ Mastercharge
Account Number Expiry Date
Phoenix Systems Inc.
P.O. Box 3339-B
Evergreen Colorado 80439
Phone: 303 674-2653
J
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 97
MEN, WOMEN, BOYS, GIRLS
CURRENT GENUINE MILITARY GOVT
ISSUE M-65 FIELD COAT
Woodland Camouflage and Olive Green
HIDDEN H OOD DRAWCORD
The latest U.S. Amy Field Jacket made of 50% nylon
and 50% cotton with water repeliency. Features a zip-in
hood, heavy duty front zipper and snaps. Drawcord on
the hdod, waist, and bottom of jacket. Four (4) large out¬
side pockets with snaps. Great for skiing, bicycling,
bunting, hiking, work or leisure.
Men-Women Only Boys-Girls Only
$39.50 335.95
SIZES: Men-Women - X-Sml, Sml, Med, Lge, X-Lge
COLORS: Men-Women - Woodland Camouflage, Olive
Green, Swat Black, Navy, Safari Khaki, Jungle Tiger
Stripe
SIZES: Boys-Girls - Sml (4-6), Med (8-10), Lge (12-14),
X-Lge (16-18)
COLORS: Boys-Girls - Woodland Camouflage
M-65 Button In Lining $15.50 plus $3.00 dipping & handling
Send for Pro-Forma Invoice on Foreign Orders
Mastercard and VISA accepted. Add 6%.
State size and color and mail $39.50 or $35,95 plus
$3.50 per jacket for shipping and handling to:
ALPINE MILITARY SALES
P.O. Box 18380 • Dept. SOF • Knoxville, TN 37928-2380
Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back
' LASER GUNSIGHT^—
New Technology - Lower Price!
The Laserscope is a new type of aiming device that, at
the touch of a button, projects a bright red dot onto the
Intended target at the prectse point of bullet impact,
allowing you to rapidly aim, fire and hit a target without
using your sights, Indoors or at night!
Laserscope:
* Totally intimidates an agressor, he knows you
can’t miss.
* Powerful 2 milliwatt helium neon laser - range
400 yds.
* Small & lightweight only 12” long, 1.7 lbs.
* Designed for Military use. rugged and waterproof.
* Uses 8 Standard “AA” batteries (Included).
* Military & SWAT have used ours for over 10 yrs.
Comes with Weaver 1 ” rings, will fit “B square” mounts
(not Included) such as ARI5/M16, HK’s. UZI, Mlni-14,
Shotguns, others.
Laserscope w/ 90 day Warranty S495.
AR15/M 16 under barrel mount 45.
Ship/Ins. add $10. CA res. add 6% sales tax
Catalog of Hard-to-find, state of the ait,
personal protection and fttrriral products
$ 10 (refundable), FREE BOOK “Don't Become
the Victim” v/ purchase of catalog.
Executive Protection Products Inc.
1834 First St. Suite S., F
Napa, CA 94559
Visa/MC (707) 253-7142
Consulting available for Executive Protection and
CiJunLmrjsaKLiiTS.
money or supplies. But we wouldn't
be real optimistic about getting mail
back. Just send your letters c/o SOF)
Dept Contra , P.O. Box 693,
Boulder ; Colorado 80306 and well
make sure they're delivered.
S OFS TIMELY
COVERAGE...
Sirs:
As per your usual standard, the
July ’85 issue was excellent. Once
again, SOF does what the so-called
mainstream media will not do; cover
in detail the conflicts ongoing in the
world. Just recently, TIME magazine
did a cover with Madonna on it.
While TIME was monkeying about
with some aberration like Madonna,
SOF was covering the ongoing wars
in the real world. I can guarantee
that TIME wouldn’t do more than a
half-page on Cambodia.
Brian P. Dumas
Easton, Connecticut
Our readers have always been
more interested in world affairs than
the average reader of the major
news magazines. We're glad our
readers appreciate the difference in
SOF. ^
BULLETIN BOARD
Continued from page 12
Afghanistan. And if it is free
enterprise on this end that allows the
transaction, clearly there is none at
the delivery point. “Afghan
Government Monopoly” is printed
just below the brand name. Printed
above it is “Made in U.S.A.”
Soviet guards must get a good
chuckle out of this while standing
sentry duty, especially if they know
that Uncle Sam doesn’t even
provide cigarettes to his own field
troops anymore. Once included with
coffee, toilet paper and gum in
boxes of U.S. military rations,
cigarettes were dropped from the
packing list in the final years of
Vietnam. Even non-smoking troops
were displeased because cigarettes
had made fine trading items and
were popular among the native
population.
Printed on the side of the pack
marked for delivery to Afghanistan is
“Tax-Exempt For Use Outside U.S.”
This means that U.S. smokers have
to pay a federal tax on the foreign
and domestic tobbaco they consume
THEY WEED
YOUR
HELP
Soldiers like these go into combat
with worn-out boots, thin socks,
no cleaning gear for their rifles,
no poncho or poncho liner against
torrential rains and worn-out web
gear. They're troopers in the Sal¬
vadoran Army and Nicaraguan
freedom fighters. Being brave,
tough and willing isn't good
enough without basic equipment.
They need:
Combat Boots
Boot Socks
Uniforms
Cammie, fatigue or khaki
(medium and small ONLY:
These people are small)
Rifle /MG Cleaning Gear
Web Equipment
(pistol belts, LBE suspenders,
pouches for 30-r, M16 magazines,
canteens, canteen covers, etc.)
Lensatic Compasses
Ponchos/Poncho Liners
Field Jackets
K'Bar Knives
Field Dressings
Send the above equipment or your
cash donation to:
EL SALVADOR/
NICARAGUA
DEFENSE FUND
c/o Soldier of Fortune
UPS: U.S. MAIL;
5735 Arapahoe F.O. Box 693
Boulder, CO 80303 Boulder, CO 80306
Please include a packing list and name of
donor with all donations. Also, indicate
whether or not you would like this informa¬
tion printed.
Donations not tax deductible. (We haven't
convinced the IRS that killing communist is
a "charitable or educational" activity.)
We ll see that they get to the fighting units
that are defending your and our freedom. Do
it NOW and pass the word to your friends.
98 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
24"x36" Full color poster
$8.95
plus $2.00 Postage & Handling
Send check, money order, VISA or
MasterCard to:
SOF EXCHANGE
P.O. Box 687, Dept. GP
Boulder, CO 80306
FFHORA A revival of an old favorite.
I-AMUUS rcuurtM^ You saw a fedora |jk0 this jn
' “Indiana Jones & the Temple
of Doom" — reminding us all
of how much adventure a
man in a fedora can find. Our
version is of special wool felt,
finer textured and stiffer for
improved shape retention
over ordinary felts. Features
a tapered 5” crown with
triangular crease and 2 side
tucks, a 2W' brim and a deep brown grosgrain band. Ful¬
ly lined with rayon satin. Sizes S(6%-6%), M(7-7Vfc),
L(7V4-7%), X(7te-7%) (runs large). Money-back Guarantee.
Introductory Special!
VINTAGE
ADVENTURER
JACKET
Regularly $198
Now Only
$168
Save $30!
This terrific leather
flight jacket is a famous
favorite! You saw one like
it in “Indiana Jones & The Tam-
ple of Doom' in 1984. Clark Gable
wore one flying an air race equip¬
ped P-35 in the 1939 movie, “Test Pilot,"
But you don’t have to be a movie star or a pilot to appre¬
ciate the comfort and superb quality here. Features dou¬
ble entry pockets with zippered top, hidden inside stash
pocket, zip front with wind flap, full lining, bi-swing back
and underarm gussets for free movement. Plus it offers
the special vintage effect of worn, aged leather in a com¬
pletely new high-quality garment Sizes 36 thru 50.
Money-back guarantee.
SAVE! BUY BOTH THE HAT & JACKET
FOR ONLY $179.00
We honor VISA and MASTERCARD. Call Toll
Free 600334-5474, Write for FREE Catalog!
Send name & address along with check, money order or
credit card information to:
Dept. J-95
P.O. Box 1600, Chapel Hill, NC 27515
□ #HH3 Famous Fedora Hat (Size_). $ 19.95
□ #1C Vintage Adventurer Jacket (Size _ J.$168.00
□ #J05X Hat/Jacket Set (Sizes/). , $179.00
Fallschirmajager
German
Airborne Poster
while communist consumers in
Afghanistan can get the best U.S.
tobacco without any tribute to Uncle
Sam’s wallet. And when a customer
like Afghanistan has a
most-favored-nation trading status,
U.S. companies can use imported
tobacco grown in other countries (to
the detriment of U.S. farmers) to
make cigarettes in the U.S. for
export to a foreign buyer, all without
any import or export tax to the U.S.
being paid.
Meanwhile. Congress spends
additional millions of tax dollars
every year subsidizing the tobacco
industry, artificially supporting
tobacco market prices in the name
of the same “free enterprise” under
which we sell cigarettes to a
government which we are also
spending millions to destroy.
Maybe the U.S. government is
secretly hoping to slowly kill the
Soviet tyrants in Afghanistan with
lung cancer. The cigarettes they buy
from U.S. companies do not have
the Surgeon General’s warning
printed on cigarette packs sold in the
United States. No doubt when they
read this, State Department
peabrams and Capitol Hill liberals
will complain that by omitting this
warning we are endangering the
health of Russians in Afghanistan.
For shame, for shame.
H onor
roll. ..
El Salvador/Nicaragua Defense
Fund (5735 Arapahoe Ave.,
Boulder, CO 80303) contributors:
Donald Raulerson, Robert L.
Knight Sr., John D. King. M.D.,
Edward O’Neal, Sgl. Michael
Buckner Sr., John Paananen,
MANDTC LAB, Bruce E. Knight,
Thomas J. Marsclla, William F.
Hladik, Paul Lyons, Charles
Casada; In memory of Sgt Edward
A. Collins, D-Co, 3/69th Armor,
Aschaffenburg, West Germany;
Duke Hall, William K. Hackman,
Cheryl L. Hackman, John M.
Lawrence, Darrell Basham. M.R.T.,
Allen Williams, Manuel Kstroch,
Kevin Ramsey, Steve Stan, R.L
Bailey, Jeff Pointer, Ron Dickerson,
David Barnes, Thomas Loran,
Daniel Paulson, Michael Ledbetter,
Dave “Doc” Holden, ‘Tri-City
Defense Committee” of Bay City
Ml, Richard H. Wagner, Bob Lorett,
Chris Sansone, Joel Hickman,
William F. Wagner, Mark
Goodman, J H. McGill-Brown.
Refugee Relief International, Inc.
(1105 Balmora Dr., Lafayette, CO
80026):
Donald Macy. Harvey J. Wilson
in memory of his grandfather
Harvey G. Meyer.
COUNTERFEIT GUNS EXACT SIZE WORK¬
ING METAL MODELS THAT LOOK. FEEL. WEIGH AND
HANDLE LIKE THE ORIGINALS. CAN BE -'FIELD-STRIPPED.”
CANNOT BE MADE TO FIRE REAL BUUHS. DELIVERED
FULLY
SAFE! ;SEMBLE °
FOR
DISPLAY
357
POLICE
MAGNUM
01-108
MILITARY KNIVES QUALITY REPRODUC¬
TIONS OF FAMOUS. HISTORICAL EDGED WEAPONS AND
MILITARY KNIVES.
U.S. M3 FIGHTING KNIFE
07-048 . $22 PP0
FAIRBAIRN-SYKES COMMANDO KNIFE
07*014. $29 PPD
ALL KNIVES
HAVE SCABBARDS
GERMAN HJ YOUTH KNIFE
07 09 . .. $23 PPD
FREE COLOR CATALOG SHOWS OVER 50 DIFFERENT TYPES
OF EDGED WEAPONRY FROM BATTLE AXES TO SAMURAI
SWORDS TO FULL-SIZE SUITS OF ARMOUR.
MEDALS & BADGES PEREECT REPLICA s
HIGHEST QUALITY
THIS ‘RUPTURED DUCK” IS
MADE FROM ORIGINAL DIES.
U.S. WWII DISCHARGE BUTTON
14-018. $« PPD
GERMAN WWI “BLUE MAX”
14 01 (W/RIBB0N) . . $23 PP0
14-77 (NECK CHAIN) $13 PPD
BRITISH WWII RAF OR
WWI RFC PILOT WINGS
15*11B (RAF) .......... ....... SIS PPD
15-11C (RFC) - S13FP0
FREE COLOR CATALOG SHOWS OVER 50 DIFFERENT TYPES
OF MILITARY INSIGNIA, MEDALS. 8A0G6S, FUGS. ETC
k CREDIT CARD ORDERS, NO INQUIRIES, PHONE TOLL FREE
W 1-800-638-2000 (IN MD: 800-631-4300) ORDERS ONLY!
ma w w ■§ v <w cn mail mo risk coupon tooay 1 a on n a d ■■
[ COLLECTOR S ARMOURY, INC. ,_, PL paSE h
; 800 SLATERS LANE SEND FREE n
B P.O. BOX 1QS1, DEPT. SO _ CATA . hq 8
H ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA 22313 USA |
| Plme md Ubwif $
I I
I □ MONEY ORDER □ CHECK ENCLOSED S .
1 CHARGE fO MY: □ VA □ MC □ AX DCS □ DC
| (EXPBWnoN DAIEl
S'
I'
I CITY.
SM MINIMUM CHARGE
, PRINT NAME
^TATE/21F, .
.—J
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 99
CpOF
SOF WORLD
TOURJACKET
For the past ten years you’ve traveled with us all over the
globe featuring:
Afghanistan Cuba Israel Pakistan
Angola El Salvador Korea S. Africa
Burma Grenada Laos Thailand
Cambodia Guatemala Lebanon Vietnam
Costa Rica Honduras Nicaragua Zimbabwe
Black Nylon Satin Jacket with Flannel Lining.
$49.95 plus $1.75 postage and handling
Send Check or Money Order to:
SOF Exchange, Dept. SOF
P.O. Box 687
Boulder, Colorado 80306
For VISA and Master Card Orders:
(303) 449-3750
|viSA/M.C./Am.Ex.fcme-TOLL FREE-24 hrs:80fc82
MOADHEADS I7/4^oi .
SILENT,POWERFUL,ACCURATE,hits like bullet!Kills varmints, £
pests.Target, plinking, thrilling sport! Astound friends! Compressed §
^rTn3oo^Mm^unTnonor^
hunting!) 20 ft. range $9.97 !'>.
, , 4Vi'Compact,220'range$11.97! $
I S 5%' Popular, 300' ft.$12.97! 6'fi h
o Magnum 350' range $13.97!
....jt popular since iflirOoiisJ in 8'ft.Super-Mag(2-picce) 450'
$22.97! Add $3.001 for above 4
P ‘ V .IS Take-Down Lamp models!!
d Extra darts sOtVIOO:
>0 £ 20fl!$14/500!$26/M !Banus B uy
‘ l »2 guns set 600 Srts ! simgjJ,
* | N quiver! patches! muzzle guard®
-. targets! carry box f$22 I
L oy! § § freebies)! Buy 3 SAME + J
l&@uScIeaning rod+900!$32 freebies! 3
^ g Buy 4 SAME - 1100 + MiniJ
2gun!$51 free! Buy 5 SAME+f
r 1300+ free 7th gun!$65 free !6 1
w SAME+1600! free 8 th! Add
c Postag e EACH jjd. sun:
l-jpaoswr- a ." ot .^|P
8r i ?^Pf^'nA r l! nfo C hfihted! If broken m Lifetime i
5 we’ll replace! HOUSE OF I
HOUSE OF 1
VC. BOX794-SF
breath gives amazing power! Pierces W plywood! Rugged 38 caU§^o, 84^.Sendcash|
aluminum, 135 steel darts, carry case, instnictions jffjscsjao^
15 x 80 MILITARY
Phenomenal Brightness
and Brilliance
The new Steiner 15x80 Military
Binoculars are an impressive
addition to our line of combat
proven binoculars. Available with
or without compass, they are
rubber armored, waterproof,
and fully multicoated. Their
amazing lightweight Mak-
rolon^ bodies (3.5 lbs.) let
you hand hold them with ease.
The unique Steiner prism sys¬
tem assures highest light transmis¬
sion and clarity. For information on this
and other Steiner military binoculars or scopes, call or write.
NEWIH
STEINER
PIONEER MARKETING AND RESEARCH. INC.
216 Haddon Ave., Suite 622, Westmont, NJ OSIOB
Phone: 1-800-257-7742 or 609-854-2424 TWX; 710-943-1341
V """"""" ' " J
Afghan Freedom Fighters Fund
(P.O. Box 693, Boulder, CO 80306)
donors:
Robert Punch, Donald E.
Raulerson Jr., Mark C. Cappucdo,
Mark A. Zimmerman, Richard L.
Rader, Lt. USN, Karen E. Grah, Lt.
USN, MANDTC LAB, Ron Gross.
M ercenary
ACCOUNTABILITY...
You’d think that accountants
would understand mercenarism,
wouldn’t you? Well, it seems they
don’t.
The Institute of Chartered
Accountants of London, a
professional body that ought to
understand the advantages of free
enterprise, have struck Congo and
Seychelles mercenary Col. Mike
Hoare from their rolls. Hoare —
formerly a Fellow of the organization
— said that he was surprised at the
Institute’s decision, since he had
never embezzled a cent and his
books were always in order. Few
men, accountants or mercenaries,
can make that claim.
M ule
recall. ..
In their infinite wisdom, Pentagon
leaders are re-inventing their old
logistics mainstay, the pack mule.
Special warfare buffs, mountaineers
and sentimentalists who have
followed the reactivation of the 10th
Mountain Division were happy to
learn that General John Wickham Jr.
wants to re-authorize mules for the
division after a 30-year hiatus. Who
knows? If the Army gets really
serious about the 10th, maybe
they’ll move the crag-crawlers back
to the appropriately thin air of Camp
Hale, Colo., from their present
barracks at towering Fort Drum,
N.Y. ^
COLD STEEL
Continued from page 74
To accomplish this, Kali teaches you to
be extremely aggressive. But at the same
time, avoid any cut or thrust that makes you
throw your weight behind the blow. These
techniques require too much recovery time
and leave your knife hand vulnerable.
Instead, concentrate on speed. Jab with
the point. Cat-claw with snap cuts at any¬
thing unprotected. Vertical whipping
strikes will prove especially hard to block.
But just trying to cut your man isn’t
enough. He’s trying to do the same to you,
and you have to develop means of opening
100 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
ADVERTISERS INDEX
Advertiser Pago
Alpine Military Sales. ........98
Amazing Concepts . .27
American Historical Foundation _ ...... 4-5
American Soldiers of Fortune .. .... ....... 8
Armaiuren-Gssellschaft (ARGES) .. .27
Assault Systems .. , ,. .86
Auto Ordnance. ... ..... .86
Brigade Quartermasters... ., .23
Bunk Knivoft_ .19
Catco... *.....
.98
CCS Communications ... i.*„.
Cold Steel.. . .
. .. 77, 82
Collector’s Armoury, Inc.
....... .99
Combat Weapons Exposition..
Dell Publishing..
Ooubleday Military Book Club.. .,_
The Dutchman.,. .........
El Salvador/Nicaragua Defense Fund..
Excalibur Enterprises
Gun South
Guns & Action Subscriptions. .. .
-81
Heckler & Koch .
..... cpver 4
H K.S., Inc....
House of Weapons......
. ... .TOO
Impact 2000 (New Horizons).
.. . ...JU
INCO. ...
..9*
JR Stupera. , ..
.as
Kaufman's West.
Knifeco.,.> 4 ..
Larc International..
.... .,95
Law Enforcement Association. A. 1 ...,,
.. .78
L,L Baston......
.87
Loompanics . ..
__ 75, 79
Lowe-Alpine.*__.... „
,, .90
Midwest Sport Distributors, Inc.
. .... .77
North American School of Firearms.
Optical Lab Products . -...
Paladin Press.. .^,..
....T, 24-25
Parallex Corp..... .
Peak Performance Network..
Phoenix Systems. . .
....... ...97
Pioneer & Company... s:t ....
Presidio Press.. -v.......
...., ,15
Quartermaster Sales, Inc.
Cover3
Hambo Surplus . . ...
... ,80
Ratcatcher USA ...
. .........26
Second Chance Body Armor.....
.88
Sherwood International.
SOF Convention
SOF Exchange.. ^,. ..... 28-29, 99, 100
SOF Subscriptions . .. . ..
SOF Three-Gun Match.. —
Springfield Armory Inc_ _ . **,.-,*.
StoegerIndustries. —
. ,.89
Survival Books. .
..98
Survival Store.. .. .
Time-Ufe Books...
...._.3Q
Universal Military Outfitters .
. .... ,79
U.S. Calvary Store.
. 9
U.S. Optics.
Valley Surplus. ......
VaJor Sports. ....
SUPPLY LOCKER
American Pistol. . . .
Catco.. „. . .*______
CCS Communications...
Countermeasures Technology .
Crawford Knives ..... .. .... .
_ ,.,103
Creative Horizons
Devil's Brigade.., —,.. . ■
_100
Eden Press. ..... __.....
. . .105
Feather Enterprises
-.106
Ferde Grofe Films... .
Global School.,
Greene Military .... _-„.*•<».
Guaranteed Distributors- . ....
Jimmy Ule Knives.. . ....
Ufeknife.. , .* .. ....
-103
LRRP Enterprises...... ... .
Matthews Police Supply_
104
Modem Schools of America ---
..106
Movies Unlimited.......
Numrich Arms
__104
RP Knives.____. .>,
.. , ,102
Sin Loi Productions.
Special Action Commando School.. .
...,-,,,.105
Stackpole Books ... ....
S.T.A.N.O. Component. .. ..
^ y1G2
T>) Jeweity--
Tripwire Enterprises w....
The Ultimate Game..
.TQ4
Universal Electronics ,,. ., >. ., .u
, .,..1,1.104
Vlctof Tango.. , r „« w t.. .....
* 'ir4 i 1 if 106
War Zone , .n,:. ,\. r ^ _,
Wsstbury Satea, ... .■ ■ ■
his guard without exposing yourself. And
this is where feints and traps do their work.
See, there’s a two-foot dead zone be¬
tween a knife-fighter’s offensive capability
(his knife in his hand) and his vital organs. If
you’re going to win you have to bridge that
gap. A distracting wound will do that. So
will a low kick to remove his support. (Be
sure you don’t kick higher than his knee or
your leg’s the target.) Just don’t forget, the
idea is to cut him first and cut him fast.
Once he starts to bleed, move immediate¬
ly into medium range: that distance at which
you can easily reach your enemy’s vital
organs with your knife. Be sure you do this
by either blocking his attack with your emp¬
ty hand or by stepping in at an angle that
carries you away ftcm his blade.
When you safely gain middle ground,
follow your first strike with a powerful cut
to the weapon arm. The idea is to complete¬
ly incapacitate that limb. If the abdomen is
already vulnerable to your attack, thrust
directly into that soft vital area.
Never forget, your own vital organs are in
great jeopardy at this range. Even a man
with his throat cut or stabbed through the
heart can live 12 to 14 seconds, plenty of
time to maim or mortally wound you.
In my opinion, your best chance to avoid
counterattack is to step into your enemy’s
ground on completing your middle-distance
assault, and move in close behind his back.
If possible, kick the back of his knee to
break him down. Then switch to a reverse or
ice-pick grip on your knife.
This grip allows you to get the full
strength of your legs, back and shoulder
behind the blow, making it a snap to split the
ribs or even the skull. Once in place, stab
one of the kidneys (located on either side of
the backbone just above the belt) and pump
or twist the blade. Damage to the circulatory
system and excruciating pain are so intense
this blow can cause cardiac arrest.
If this target isn’t handy, go for the heart
(stab in under the left shoulder). Or if you’re
close enough, stab at the base of the skull
and instantly sever the spine.
Once you start the final stabbing attack,
don’t stop until you are sure your enemy’s
dead.
Throughout the fight keep a firm grip on
your knife hilt: You drop your knife and you
lose your life. And use your body weight,
not arm power to withdraw your blade after
each insertion. Always remember the point
is deadlier than the edge at close range and
that people die fastest from multiple stab
wounds.
Knife fighting is a toe-to-toe, bloody
business that uses the natural weapons of the
body as well as the blade. And learning to
fight effectively is the product of long prac¬
tice. For those of you who want a book on
the subject, I suggest the Philippine Martial
Arts by Dan Inosanto. (It is a little hard to
understand if you haven’t had formal in¬
struction.) Inosanto’s system added to disci¬
plined training will improve your chances of
living if you ever hold off death at the length
of a knife. ^
230,000 SALVADORANS HAVE
FLED THEIR HONES BECAUSE OF
COMMUNIST TERRORISM - THEY
NEED YOUR HELP AND OURS.
While REFUGEE RELIEF INTERNATIONAL, INC.
is non-political, we do aid victims of
oppression by dispatching medical teams
and shipments of supplies to remote areas of
EL SALVADOR and HONDURAS. Our future
goals include the establishment of medical
dispensaries in secured areas of KAMPUCHEA
and along the PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN
border.
Our expertise lies In getting dedicated
medical personnel into hostile areas. We see
little of hotel lobbies and don't squander
your donations on cocktail parties, first-class
airfares, lavish offices and extravagant
salaries. What you give gets to the people
you Intend to help (and we make sure of it).
We believe in President Reagan's challenge
for the "private sector" to parallel
government efforts in supplying needed
assistance to those suffering in the midst of
armed conflicts.
In order to continue and expand our efforts
we need YOUR TAX-DEDUCTIBLE
CONTRIBUTIONS. Our volunteers are non-
salarled but aid Is required to get them and
their medical supplies to target areas. (Our
Federal Identification Number Is: 74-
2255573.)
Please Include a packing list and name of
donor with all donations. Also, indicate
whether or not you would like this
information printed.
For further information, please contact:
Thomas D. Reisinger
President
REFUGEE RELIEF
INTERNATIONAL, INC.
1105 Balmora Drive
Lafayette, Colorado 80026
Altai Nr. Donald
Yes, the frame is camou-
t CK flaged but if your target
f has sharp senses, It can
j f catch the reflection from
the lens of your glasses.
Camoco Ltd. makes top quality, hand painted
camouflaged sunglasses with coated lenses
which reflect almost no light to the target—yet
the Camoco lens allows up to 99.8% light trans¬
mission. You can pick out your target faster, even
at dawn or dusk.
Limited Edition so order your pair today.
Optical Labs Products
P.O. Box 1594 • Jonesboro, AR 72403-1594
CALL TOLL FREE!
(From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST (Mon-Fri)
(800) 643 0089 or (800) 382-3230
SHIP TO:
NAME _
(Arkansas ONLY)
ADDRESS.
CITY-
-ZIP .
pairof camouflaged
each at once. Add $3.25 for
shipping & handling. (In AR add 4% sales tax.)
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 101
SUPPLY LOCKER
■r.
TIMBERSHEPHERD ™
TIMBERWOLF/GERMAN SHEPHERD HYBRID
As seen In S.W.A.T. Magazine November 1983
and Survival Guido Magazine August 1984
tej±iyr> . r:. < r ;
“FRIEND AND PARTNER”
Loyal •Intelligent companion for Family Protection *Home
•Field •‘'Patrol,” 37.5 Tlmberwolf 62.5 German Shepherd 4th
generation hybrids taking 7 years to produce (ram North
American Gray Timberwoives and German Import Shepherds.
DO NOT CONFUSE The TIMBERSHEPHERD with the W
wolf shepherd mix, poorly bred, unpredictable and
unsuitable as a professionally trained working dog.
KEENER SENSES of Sight 'Hearing 'Smell than any other
domestic breed.
LONGER LIFE SPAN over the Rottwieler 'German
^Shepherd *or Doberman Pincher
EVEN TEMPERAMENT Ideal for the family with small
children. The TIMBERSHEPHERD is bred exclusively as a
superior working dog —. Devoted, Useful, Life Long
Companion
OUR TRAINING RESOURCES are extensive and most
credible,'employing the latest techniques and standards
currently in use by the U.S. Dept, of Defense Military
Working Dog Program 'Family 'Home 'Law Enforcement
(Public or Private) 'Operative 'Whatever!!! 'Full Health
•Temperament 'Hip Guarantees 'Shipping — Worldwide.
LRRP SECURITY SERVICES, INC.
Box 1620 M-9A, Aiken, S.C. 29801 {803) 649-5936
Brochure information includes color reprint of SWAT and
Survival Guide magazine articles.
SEND $3.00 U.S. FUNDS
mmm
REVENGE
SOLID STERLING SILVER
m OEM
HEAVY Dl
(UtlliiNAI,
aisfaiailabic
ails'? plait SM
’Mnd finger sisc
Sh'rlidt; Priiv .1 Subject
Te Ctat
fAY. fe-
L® m
CREATIVE HORIZONS
P.0. BOX 10952
PARHVILLE. MD. 21234
S0!-SB2-Mi6'1
Offering
My New Hollow Handle
Survival & Combat Knife
Non-Glare Mat Combat Finish
VL '
„
440 C
Blade with
Saw Teeth
That Work!
13" overall
length.
All stainless steel
construction with
combat sheath.
*
Knives
Custom Handmade Knives
by Robert Parrixh
IRC Spartanburg Hwy. Hendersonville, NC 28739
Phrm. (704)
Send SASt ter more Informollon
THE LEADER IN
NIGHT VISION SCOPES
■ 51595 °^-
AN/PVS-3A
FEATURES:
• 18mm First Generation Reconditioned
Intensifier
• Ruggedized Combat Oriented
Construction
• Newly Designed & Improved Eyepiece
• Muzzle Flash Protection & Automatic
Brightness Control
• 4x Optical System
• Unique Quick Range Focus System
• Weighs Only 3 lbs. {Smallest/Lightest
of the Military Scopes)
INCLUDES:
• Night Sight
• Front Filter for Daylight Boresighting
o M1A/M14 & AR15/M16 Adapter Brackets
• Newly Designed Carrying Case
• Batteries (Replacements
Available Over-the-Counter)
• Manual
Pl**te Contact our Export Dept,
about your foreign requirement*.
Send $4 00 lor
Comprehenuvot Catalogs
ol our STANO Devices
CALL OR WRITE:
Surveillance Target Acqusition
Night Observation components
P.O. BOX 6274 SAN BERNARDINO. CA 92412 USA
714-882-5789/714-883-2728/TLX 675537 (STANO SBDN)
GENUINE GOVT. ISSUE
M-65 FIELD JACKET
Woodland Camouflage and Olive Drab (OD) Green.
Please do not mistake us for e similar sd —
WE are the ORIGINALf
The very latest U.S. Army issue all-weather field
jacket made of 60% nylon/50% cotton with water
repellency is fully lined and is manufactured
under strict quality standards by a prime govern¬
ment contractor in the United States. Excellent
for hunting, work or leisure. $3905
AVAILABLE IN CURRENT GOVT COLORS:
Woodland Camouflage • Olive Drab OR Tiger
Stripe Camouflage • Swat Black • Police Navy •
Lt. Blue • Maroon • Oyster • Grey • Cactus •
A.F. Sage Green • Khaki. SIZES: XS, S, M, L, XL.
For proper fit, specify chest measurement. Ge¬
nuine G.l. M-65 cold weather button-in liner
$16.95 plus $3.00 shipping and handling. BOYS’
jackets in Woodland Camouflage only. Sizes: 4-6,
8-10, 12-14, 16-18. Only $35.95.
State size and color and mail proper amount
(check or money order) plus $3.50 per jacket
(Canada: $7.00 in U.S. funds) for shipping and
handling to:
GREECE MILITARY DISTRIBUTORS
P.O. BOX 20008, Dept, SF
KNOXVILLE, TN 37940
GENUINE G.l. BDU PANTS
Brand New • First Quality
Current issue. Made
of 50% cotton/50%
nylon with double
fabric seat and knees.
Pants also feature: 6
pockets (2 slash
pockets, 2 rear
pockets, 2 large
bellows pockets on
legs), adjustable waist
and drawstring cuffs!
SIZES: S-(28-31),
M-(32-35), L-(36-39),
XL-(40-46)
Available in
Woodland
Camouflage at
$24&5
and Swat Black at
$28 95
MEN’S MILITARY SIX
POCKET WALKING SHORTS
Great for hiking,
boating, camping, etc.
In front there are two
patch pockets with
flaps and two slash
pockets; In back there
are two patch pockets
with flaps.
SIZES: 28-38.
Available in Woodland
Camouflage (50%
nylon/50% cotton),
and Khaki (100% cotton).
. . Pi
$3.50 per item (Canada: $7.00 in U.S. Funds) for
shipping and handling to:
GREENE MILITARY DISTRIBUTORS
P.O. BOX 20008, Dept. SF
KNOXVILLE, TN 37940
$1495
J# LIMITED
*** AVAILABILITY
PULLOVER
(PARKA)
A strong, light in weight, wind resistant
but breathable parka made of 50% cot¬
ton/50% polyester fabric. Available in
Woodland Camouflage, Olive Drab (OD)
Green, Navy, Off-White, Tan, Black,
Grey, French Blue, Maroon and Cactus.
SIZES: S-(36-38), M-(40-42), L-(44-48)
and XL-(48-5G).
$29 95
EACH
HURRY!
Order now
while we
have all
sizes in
stock.
Limited
quantities.
State size and color and send check or
money order for $29.95 plus $3.50 per
jacket (Canada: $7.00 in U.S. Funds) for
shipping and handling (TN residents add
7% state tax) to:
GREENE MILITARY DISTRIBUTORS
P.O. BOX 20008, Dept. SF
KNOXVILLE, TN 37940
102 SftUWim OP FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
NEVER BEFORE
OFFERED!
Drilling fixture for converting the
AR-15 to select-fire M16 using an
original M16 auto sear.
This fast, easy conversion works just like an
original Ml6.
* Tool-proof fixture shows exact position of
auto sear pin hole and guides drill for a
precision lit every time,
* Precision made from high quality tool
steel, reusable.
★ Complete instructions Included.
★ Used by professional gunsmiths to convert
AR15 to M16.
FREE! M16 auto sear and pin
included w/ fixture
Introductory
Special, only
3 or more 10% discount No FFL required to
purchase. BATF approval required before
converting. Satisfaction Guaranteed or return
unused within 2 weeks for full refund. Also
available: Video cassette showing all the legal
and easy ways of converting AR 15 to M16, step
by step plus history of weapon, full auto
demonstrations and more. $49.95 ppd. VHS or
BETA.
$39.95
Send check M.O. (add 3.50 for C.OJ).) to:
CATCO
316 California Ave., #341,F
Reno. NV 89509. 707-253-8338
TRAILBREAKER
THE COMPLETE WALKING SYSTEM
High tech hiking staff separates, into 4
modular sections adjustable from 36”
to 56”. Waterproof hollow sections
contain compass, camera mount, medi¬
cal kit, survival kit and more! Used full
length it's a walking support, camera
monopod, rifle brace, etc. Remove a
section and it's a walking cane, defen¬
sive nightstick, etc. Weight: 21 oz.
Materials: T6063 Aircraft Aluminum;
Brass Compass Cap; Nylon Wrist
Strap. Money Back Guarantee!
Send $49.95 (postpaid) to:
LIFELINE INDUSTRIES
Box 771 SOF,
Santa Monica, CA 90406
By the makers of LIFEKNIFE
Bloods. Guts
On Video
Available on VHS & Beta:
□ Fists Of Fury S19.95
Bruce Lee's 1st epic: slambang chop-socky action.
□ Hitler! The Black Fox $19.95
Oscar-winning bio narrated by Marlene Dietrich.
□ Vietnam: Remember $39.95
The men & missions of America's longest war.
□ Armed Forces Workout $39.95
The actual military program set to music'
D FREE! MOVIES UNLIMITED VIDEO CATALOG
with any movie order or $5.00 separately (refunded
with 1st order)
1000's & 1000's of described titles in every category-
Nobody has more 1 _
Clip ad & mail with order. Or use our 24-Hour Toll-
Free Order Phone: 1-800-523-0823 (PA residents
call 215/722*8298). anfl charge to your credit card.
Send titles checked above, on: Q VHS □ Beta
E/iclosed is $_(Check or money order.
Add $3.50 postage. PA add 6% sales tax.)
Name_
Address _ _
City_State_Zip_
Charge purchase to
□ Visa □ MasterCard □ American Express
Card #__
Expires_
Signature^
MOVIES UNLIMITED We’re the Moviest /®
6736 Castor Ave. • Philadelphia, PA 19149 j
BUGGED??
THE
BUG
HUNTER
... fast
... sensitive
... reliable
only *99!
Find hidden Radio transmitters (bugs) in your
home, office or car! The BUG HUNTER zeroes in
fast on concealed devices. Covers all the com¬
monly used frequencies in the 1 MHz to 1,000
MHz range. Flashing LED light and soft audio tone
give an indication of distance to bug. Pocket-sized
unit, complete with battery, antenna, instructions,
and one-year Limited Warranty, only $99. (Add $2
for Shipping & Handling.)
COUNTERMEASURES
P.O. Box R
Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214
(717) 794-2548
Send just $2 lor our Security Catalog ol special equipment. Learn
details about our audio cassette countersurveillance training pro¬
gram, Learn how to protect yourself against wiretapping/bugging
(Catalog is tree with purchase of Bug locator.)
DEVIL’S DART
An All-Steel Sleeve Knife
ARM MODEL:
7" overall, $65.00
LEG MODEL:
6” overall, $75.00
Small but strong.
Made from Parkerized
tool steel or sand¬
blasted stainless steel.
The blade is triangle
shaped for strength
and easy penetration
and the handle is
knurled for a sure grip.
Completely hand¬
made, it comes with
a nylon, elastic and
velcro sheath. Can
be worn on the arm,
leg or upside down.
Ready for immediate
delivery. Include $5.00
for postage and insur¬
ance. Can be shipped
C.O.D. 37-page catalog,
$3.00
PAT CRAWFORD
DEPT. SOF
205 N. CENTER
WEST MEMPHIS. AR 72301
(501) 735-4632
22 CAL PELLET
1RING
ONLY
$ 4.95
1U hulJNlJ -5!Ut mUUft 1 fcDCLIr
F REE: Targtt 8 50 Reusoable Pallet
Not Sold in New York City - No Permit H n irksc 1
This rapid fire .22 Cal. "Commando" type machine pistol
looks like the famous, hard-hitting weapon so popular with
combat attack groups. The side mounted, detachable, ten-
round cfip sprays pellets into the target as fast as you can
pull the trigger. Only $4.95 plus 95c for postage and hand¬
ling. Complete satisfaction guaranteed or your money re¬
funded. NY State Res. add Sates Tax.
GUARANTEED DISTRIBUTORS, Dept. 269AZ63
County Road 687, Hartford, Michigan 49057
FREE: Targets and 50 reuseable pellets
This hard hitting target pistol looks and feels like
the "magnum revolver" in use by most highway pa¬
trols Extra long target barrel and he-man grips
combine to give unusual accuracy The easy-load
cylinder reloads quickly with 10 pellets. Only $4.95
plus 95* postage and handling. Your purchase
price promptly refunded if not satisfied. State age
when ordering.
GUARANTEED DISTRIBUTORS, Dept. 269M063
County Road 687, Hartford, Michigan 49059
ttULIIIEIl OF FORTOJYE 103
SEPTEMBER 65
SUPPLY LOCKER
BULLETPROOF
VEST
Will stop the .357 Magnum, 9mm and 00
Buck. Meets and exceeds “Threat Level
II-A” tested in accordance with the NILECJ-
STD-0101.01. Weighs 2 3 A lbs. Fits easily
Front & Back Protector ... $150.00 ppd.
Detachable Side Panels . $27.50 ppd.
Officially tested by the U.S. Government
Edgewood Arsenal at the Aberdeen Prov¬
ing Grounds under the U.S. Department
of Justice Standards. State height, chest
and waist measurements.
MATTHEWS POLICE SUPPLY CO.
(a division of David Matthews, Inc.)
P.O. Box 1754
Matthews, N.C 28105
TELL THE WORLD YOU SERVED!
PRESTIGE RINGS you'll wear with pride. World's largest
selection of military rings, Over 1000 combinations. Visa or
MasterCard. Money Back Guarantee!
Send SI for lull color dialog today.
T-J JEWELRY CO.
Box Y S9. Apache Junction. A2 05220
(Successors to Royal Military Jewelry)
LEGIONNAIRES
SURVIVAL
BOOT KNIFE
ONLY
$1 2 95
Add $1.05 Hndl.
Mode!
K-99-A
Double edge 440 stainless steel blade.
Full tang one piece construction. Leath¬
er sheath with quick release snap and
metal boot/belt clip. Money Back
Guaranteed If Not Fully Satisfied!!
WESTBURY SALES CO. DEPT. BK-9-SF
373 Maple Avenue, Westbury, New York 11590
A 480 page, 2Vz lb. parts catalog,
listing military^ commercial, anti¬
que U.S. and Foreign gun parts,
the most complete parts listing
in the world! Used by govt, agen¬
cies and professional gunsmiths.
Order now, receive $3 certificate
toward purchase of any catalog
item.
Numrich. arms
CORP West Hurley, N.Y. 12491
THE
UuJTMAEFE-^m
GAME
•War/Combat Games
•High Cash Profits
•Full or Part Time
•Selection of Guns
•Washable Pellets
•Complete Game
Supplies
For Dealer Info, write:
THE ULTIMATE GAME
P.O. Box 1856
Ormond Beach, Florida
32075
P.S. Call us at:
904/677-4358
NUMB AH ONET^SHIKTS'
“NO LIE Gl”
T6
<Sf.cE nt 6
T30
SWIFT- SILENT- DEADLY
'SIM 101UVA'
(Sin Loi Victor Charlie means tough shit VC)
Money Orders prompt, priority shipping
CAPS & T-Shirts $9.^Each (mdixtes o & hi
If Shirts ScreenedTront & Back: "No Cheap Charlie 1 ’’ I
1 OP available if specified, STATE SIZE & STYLE NO
For Overseas Air Mail add $2.2S0tem
SIN LOI PRODUCTIONS Inc. [SLPI]
1105 N. Main St. Suite 2A No. 2
Gainesville, FL 32601
Wi> Cairy Many VIETNAM T-Shirts
Send $2 for Catalog [free with purchase]
Sale Ends 9/30/85
Ultra-Sensitive
Micro-Transmitter
Save $30. Only $19”
This amazingly powerful microminiature FM transmitter (smaller
than your thumb) can pick up whispers from 25 feet away, and
broadcast every sound to an FM radio hundreds of feet away!
Perfect for security monitoring, wireless microphone, baby minder,
law enforcement, and much more. NOT A KIT * comes completely
assembled & ready to use (battery, antenna, and tuning wand
included Free). Limited, offer, while supplies last. Only 1 to a
customer. (Regularly $49.95.) Now, send $19.95 + 2.75 shipping
($22.70). Foreign orders add $5.
Telephone Recording Device
Save $20. Only $9 9S
This tiny electronic marvel turns your cassette recorder into an
efficient, automatic, and totally silent telephone recording system.
Starts recorder when phone is lifted, records both sides of
conversation with crystal dear fidelity, stops recorder when phone
is hung up. Micro-unit measures only 1%”X1%"x%”, easity
installed anywhere along phone lines. FREE with every XLP
Recorder, or send only $9.95 4- 2.75 shipping ($12.70). Foreign
add $5.00.
24 Hr Tape Recorder
Save $100.
Plus Free Phone Recorder
Now you can record a full 24 hours on a single cassette tape!
The fantastic new XLP 3000 dual speed portable tape recorder
makes all other recorders obsolete. Two recorders In one: This
amazing new cassette recorder can record and play all your
existing tapes at the standard speed. Then, flip the switch to the
Xtr»4ong play mode, and record up to 24 hours on a single
180 cassette (0 hra on a 60, 12 hrs on a 90, and 16 hrs on a
120). Plus you’ll save $100.00 (reg. $289.95) and get a FREE
Phone Recording Unit Send only $189,95 + 7.05 1st class
shipping ($197.00). Foreign acid $15.00. Limited offer, white
supplies last
Items above come with a 100% money back guarantee. Giant
catalogue of mind-blowing space-age electronics & books FREE
with every order (or send $2. for catalogue, Foreign $5).
Universal Electronics, 15015 Ventura Bl., Dept. F9, Sherman
Oaks, CA 91403. (818) 509-9124.
104 fJUliDlElt OF HJRT11M
SEPTEMBER
SPECIAL ACTION
COMMANDO SCHOOL
Special Forces training in the
following areas: unconventional
warfare ops; counter insurgency
ops; survival techniques; pa¬
trolling techniques; special
assault weapons and tactics;
electronic security measures; light
and general purpose M.G.; exotic
weapons and tactics; adjustment
procedures for artillery and TAC-
AIR, and much more.
Courses Available: 7 days
Basic Commando Course (BCC)
Intermed. Commando Course (ICC)
Advanced Commando Course (ACC)
Escape & Evasion (E&E)
Survival Course (SC)
Geographical Characteristics:
Forest Terrain
Average Temp. Day 75°
Evening 60°
For a brochure containing a com¬
plete list of all training and prices,
write to the;
Special Action Commando School
P.O. Box 506, Pecos, New Mexico
87552 Brochure $2.00
(505) 757-6933
1985 brochure supercedes all
other information and brochures.
JEFF COOPER'S
#0 AMERICAN
/X PISTOL INSTITUTE
THE FIRST WITH THE MOST
Rifle, Pistol, Shotgun — All Levels
“CRISIS MANAGEMENT IN
CLOSE-RANGE INTERPERSONAL
CONFRONTATIONS’*
As the originators and developers of modern
smallarms technique, we constitute the fountain¬
head of the doctrine of personal weaponcraft.
Twenty-four firing ranges, arm’s length to 1000
meters — three Indoor simulators — twenty-four
expert Instructors — seven qualified range
masters — a complete gunamithy on the ranch.
Our perfected training methods combine the
discipline essential to safety with cordial,
personal contact in an atmosphere of helpful
comradeship. Our aim Is to expand the Individual
self-confidence of each client to the point where
he can enjoy a degree of peace of mind rarely
known In today’s hazardous environment.
Student-teacher ratio is never ‘more than four-to-
one In range work, and over half our tactical
instruction is conducted with one coach for each
pupil.
A SUCCESSFUL GUNSITE GRADUATE
tS SECURE AND IN CONTROL OF
HIS ENVIRONMENT.
Write Dept . 02 for Information.
Send $2.00 for API brochure.
MASTERCARD/ViSA ACCEPTED
AMERICAN PISTOL INSTITUTE
Paulden, Arizona 86334
WAR ZONE INC.
INTRODUCES
“THE MINI GARROTE”
A wind pipe compressor that
renders the enemy insensible.
OPEN Reveals over 24” of
high PSI wire.
NOTE the mini garrote has
undergone extensive testing
and is combat ready. A Must
For Your Arsenal! For imme¬
diate delivery Send Check or
Money Order for $12.50 to:
WAR ZONE
P.O. Box 474
New Hartford, N.Y. 13413
US PATENT PEND.
Aviation
VIDEO
J—J A
The official Armed Forces footage de¬
tailing in savage and bloody battle the
most awesome combined air, sea and
land conflict in history.
From Pearl Harbor and defeat to epic
victories and final confrontation at the
Japanese homeland.
A two-part visual masterpiece featuring
the most nerve jolting combat footage
ever ... all front line beachheads and gun
camera stuff of first magnitude.
Plus!! An additional tribute to the
fighting 1st Cavalry Division, "H«ll for
Leather. " Los Negros. The Admiralties,
Leyte, Manila .. first to hit the beaches,
they gave new meaning tojungle warfare.
65 minutes of great combat footage,
priced at .. . only
Specify Beta or VHS. ®
Send to: FKRDS OBOFt FILMS
3100 Airport Avo., Santa Monica, CA 90400
U.S. and Canada, add $2.50 shipping, foreign
orders, add $3.50. CA res. add 6Vi% Sales Tax.
Visa & Master - Include card no. & expiration.
OftDtR TOU-PRII (000) BO4-0M1, ext. 920.
In Calif. (100) 432-7207, ext. 920.
PRIMACY ?
Avoid BIG BROTHER ...
Best techniques ever published
for creating COMPLETE PRIVACY!
■ Avoid Surveillance, Eavesdropping
■ Become “Invisible” to Investigators
■ Stop Generating Financial Records
■ Receive Confidential Mall — Safely
■ Stay out of Government Flies
■ How to Eliminate Nepatfve Records
■ Begin Creating Helpful New Records
■ Hiding Your Assets
■ Banking Alternatives
■ Privacy from Taxes
■ “Low Profile” Secrets
■ Hideouts; Deep Cover
■ Multiple Addresses
■ How to “Disappear"
ALL THE PRIVACY YOU WANT!
Don’t wait! Order TODAY! ONLY $14“*
EDEN PRESS • 11623 Slater ”C”
Box 8410-AP • Fountain Valley, CA 92728
5-YES1 Send me PRIVACY
^Enclosed is 14.95 □ check Q money order.
fllTJlil residents please add 6% sales tax.)
□ Send latest Book Catalog — FREE
jName_ ___
■ Wdross__ __
■City -
■Siaie._
-2lp.
624 pages
1.500 photos
Springfield
1903 Rifles
by Lt. Col.
William S. Brophy
USAR, Ret.
The illustrated story of the design, develop¬
ment, and production of all the models,
appendages and accessories of the gun
considered one of the finest military rifles
ever made. This lifetime work of the rifle s
premier authority, is extensively docu¬
mented with 1,500 rare photos from private
collections and will stand for all time as the
definitive work on the 1903 Rifles. A must for
every serious collector!
YES! Please rush me _ copies of The
Springfield 1903 Rifles @ $49.95 (plus $3 postage)
PA residents add 6% tax. If not delighted 1 may
return the book within 30 days.
□ VISA □ M.C. □ AM. EX. □ Check
Card No.
Name_
. Exp. Date _
Address.
City. State.
.Zip.
STACKPOLE BOOKS
America's Great Outdoor Publisher
Department SOF
P.O. Box 1831, Harrisburg, PA 17105
SEPTEMBER
JiDUHEH Of F^I!Tl : ftE 105
SUPPLY LOCKER
EXPLODING
ARROWS
3UHV1VALISTS
MILITARY $ LESS THAN
As seen on TV and movies, now available for the
first time, the original TRIPWIRE ARROW BOMB
construction manual. Easy to follow, step-by-step,
PHOTO ILLUSTRATED manual enables you to
construct three types of devastating warheads,
including military type containers, using inexpen¬
sive commonly available materials and simple hand
tools. Order now and get FLAMING ARROW info
FREEH! You won't find this manual anywhere else
so order yours now!
ONLY $12.95 POSTPAID!
^—TRIP WIRE fiptfgiffW -TSSoT
^ DEPT. SF
LEARN GUN REPAIR
YOU CAN BE AN EXPERT
GUNSMITH IN LESS THAN
SIX MONTHS
START NOW AND EARN YOUR DIPLOMA
AT HOME IN YOUR SPARE TIME. h:f
OUR FAMOUS STAFF OF EXPERTS WILL TEACH YOU:
• BASIC/MASTER GUN REPAIR • CUSTOMIZING • CHOKES
• ACCURIZ1NG • BLUEING • SPORTERIZING • SCOPES
• BALLISTICS SECRETS • HOW TO BUY WHOLESALE
• RELOADING FOR PISTOL AND RIFLE • SHOTGUNS
• HOW TO GET YOUR FEDERAL FIREARMS LICENSE
PLUS MUCH MORE!
PROVEN METHODS-CHARTS-EXPLODED VIEWS
ACCREDITED & APPROVED BV STATE & NATIONAL
AGENCIES & BY THE VA. FOR Gl BENEFITS
OVER 40,000 STUDENTS SINCE 1948
-5?nflJprJEfiEJJacts_prJCal L^2^90^8346__J
Please RUSH FREE facts on how I can become a |
professional gunsmith the QUICK easy home study ■
way No Obligation. No salesman will call
NAME _ AGE _I
ADDRESS _ I
JIMMY ULE
“The Arkansas Knifesmith "
Maker of the Survival Knife for the
Movie “FIRST BLOOD”
"Imitated But Unequaled **
Jimmy Lile, Rt. 1, Russellville, Ark. 72801
501-968-20X1
MINI-14
ACCESSORIES
The famous C.I.A.
“Get out of jail free” card
An exact reprint of the C.I.A. Covert Opera¬
tions I.D. card carried by members of the
SOG (Studies and Observations Group) in
S.E. Asia during the Viet Nam Era.
.Do not detain or question him! He is
authorized to wear civilian clothing, carry
unusual personal weapons, pass into res¬
tricted areas, requisition equipment of all
types
"If he is killed, do not remove this document
from him! Etc. . printed in three colors!
SOLD AS A WAR
RELIC ONLY!
Devil’s Brigade
Box 1625 Dept A
EIDorado, Ar 71730
$5.00
£0 pagecatoiog
$ 1.00
(Free with order)
Be a DETECTIVE
AND EARN YOUR BADGE
UCCU3C
INFORMATION
• 0XT6CTIVE
ASSOCIATION
TAPE$
, v>aij WO RUTS
u ' ros "
■LffARNA
«AVD10/V1SUAL jD*® t
PBOORAilS CO°*^ W ■
NO EXPERIENCE OR COLLEGE REQUIRED
Men-Women - L»am from the expert*. Train at home for an
exciting part or full time career as a private detective or
security consultant. Start your own business or work for
others. Step-by-step you will team how to conduct any
Investigation, how and where to find that first ]ob, and
much more. Diploma awarded. Equipment. Employment
Assistance.
“For An Education That Works”
GLOBALSCHOOLOF INVESTIGATION
Box 191 SOF Hanover, Mass. 02339
Rush free fust*. Show me how I can learn at home. No obi Igatlon.
No talesman will call.
SALES REPS
WANTED
Earn $50,000
+ Part Time!
Rep the world’s largest most
successful security company.
Sell exciting James Bond
countersurveillance, security
and communications systems.
Your market for these much
needed products includes
police, governments, major
corporations.
$10,000 INVESTMENT
SECURED BY INVENTORY
Contact Mr. Parsons
212-697-8140
CCS COMMUNICATION
CONTROL INC.
633 Third Ave.
New York, N.Y. 10017
VET’S TEE’S AND SWEATS
FROM
VICTOR TANGO*
★VICTOR SIERRA
FOR FREE COLOR FLYER SEND SASE.
T’s
10.95
POST PAID
SWEATS
15.95
POST PAID
FRONT 001 002
BACK 002 BACK 002
AMERICAN MADE 50-50 T’s & Sweats
Available In Black only. U.S. & NAM VETS
headlines offering:
ARMY, NAVY, AIR FORCE, MARINES
Screen Printed Front & Back.
S-M-L-XL XXL $2.00 EXTRA
SEND CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO:
☆Viictdb Tango ☆
P.O. Box 98SF, West Grove, PA 19390
($2.00 CHARGE FOR OVERSEAS)
106 SULBIFHOF I UK rtlNF
SEPTEMBER 35
CLASSIFIED
T#- x — ■*- X - *
CURRENT REQUIREMENTS — Ail ads MUST be received
by the 1 st, four months prior to Issue cover date. Ad copy
must be typed or written clearly with authorizing signa¬
ture, telephone number and payment. Advertisers offering
Information packets for a fee must send a sample of pack¬
et Cost per insertion is $1 per word — $20 minimum.
Personal classified ads are 50 cents per word — SI 0 mini¬
mum. Name, address and telephone are to be included in
the count. FOR EXAMPLE: P.O. Box 693 - 3 words; Boul¬
der, Colorado « 2 words; 80306 = 1 word. Abbreviations
such as A.P., 20mm, U.S., etc., count as one word each.
Hyphenated words and telephone numbers are counted
os two words. We reserve the right to delete or change any
copy which we determine to be objectionable. Mail to
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE Classified, P.O. Box 693, Boulder,
CO 80306.
READERS OF BOTH DISPLAY AND CLASSIFIED
ADVERTISING ARE ADVISED THAT SOF MAGAZINE
DOES NOT HAVE THE ABILITY TO VERIFY VALIDITY OF
EVERY ADVERTISEMENT CONTAINED HEREIN. SHOULD
ANY READER HAVE A PROBLEM WITH PRODUCTS OR
SERVICES OFFERED BY AN ADVERTISER, HE SHOULD
SEEK ASSISTANCE FROM HIS NEAREST POSTAL IN¬
SPECTOR.
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE MAGAZINE IS A MAGAZINE OF
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION. THERE
MAY BE PRODUCTS FOR WHICH.SALE, POSSESSION OR
INTERSTATE TRANSPORTATION MAY BE RESTRICTED,
PROHIBITED OR SUBJECT TO SPECIAL LICENSING RE¬
QUIREMENTS IN YOUR STATE. PURCHASERS SHOULD
CONSULT THE LOCAL LAW-ENFORCEMENT AUTHOR¬
ITIES IN THEIR AREA.
LE MERCENAIRE! Monthly Intelligence newsletter on terror¬
ism. communist subversion, covert operations. $15 year. $17
overseas. Sample $2. LE MERCENAIRE, PO Box 507,
Fredericktown, MO 63645. (103)
FOR SALE. Genuine United States Armed Forces surplus
clothing, individual equipment, packs, boots, survival gear,
first-aid packets, etc. Send $1 for our latest catalog to STEVE
J. PEDERGNANA, JR., PO Box 1062, Oak Park, IL 60304.
(96)
Ui JM.C Iwo |ima Commemorative Belt Buckle
Send PaynentTo: IWO Jlma Buckle BOX 95071S
Schau mburg, Illinois 60195
WWII WAR SOUVENIRS! Includes daggers, swords, helmets,
everything! Illustrated catalog $10 (refundable), DISCO, Box
331-X, Cedarburg, Wl 53012. (107)
GERMAN WWII MILITARIA: Insignia, flags, medals, uni-
forms. daggers, camouflage, books. World's biggest catalog,
including 2 large posters; $2. KRUPPER MILITARIA, Box
I77SF, Syracuse, NY 13208. (101)_
WWII RELICS! Cheaper than Delta, WWII Ltd, Collector's
Armoury! Flags, daggers, medals, insignia, etc. Free illustrated
catalog. Send 2 stamps for postage. RELICS. Box 361-D,
Cambridge, MN 55008. (96)
VIETNAM COLLECTOR? Veteran? Patches, books. Dl pins,
T-shirts. New: Grenada, Lebanon tributes. Catalog $1. SAT-
CONG, Box 177VF, Syracuse, NY 13208. (103)_
FIREWORKS, BUY DIRECT. Price list, send $1 to ACE FIRE¬
WORKS. PO Box 221, Dept. F, Conneaut, OH 44030. (104)
GRENADA, BEIRUT, Special Forces, Recon, SEALs, many
more large decals. Send stamp for price list. ELITE FORCES,
22 Orchard Street. Newton, NJ 07860. (108)
MARAUDER’S SURPLUS: A complete listing of field and
technical manuals; Elite commando and regular-army surplus
at the best prices in the country. Send $1 for catalog to
MARAUDER'S ARMY SURPLUS. 8588 McKee Road. Upatoi.
GA 31829.
PLASTIC EXPLOSIVES: Simple, step-by-step instructions to
make powerful plastic explosives from common ingredients.
$12, FREEDOM ARMS, Box 7072 HSJ, Springfield, MO
65801. (99)
NEW! The MERCENARY™
Send Check, M.0.
VISA Oft MC TO:
only $79.95
plui 5% S&H
Foreign Add 20%
Knife
or Clip
Carrier -
KNIFE Over Camo Gear
Or Under A Tux. A TRUE URBAN, DESERT,
FOREST or TROPICAL WHWAIHIB.
Lined In Glove Leafier.
Available in Ruddy*own
color or Nite-Btack\
CATTLE BARON LEATHER CO.
P.O. BOX 100724 Dept50F9
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78201
"Worn By
Mvratarw's
&
Bodyguard*
Worldwide"
SHOULDER HOLSTER
For COLT .45
BROWNING Hi-Power
& BERETTA 92
AUTOS
MOVING FAST? Keep a permanent address for as low as $6 a
month. Not a box number but your own address and suite
number. Also available—phone number, remailing, mail for¬
warding and more. ALL CONFIDENTIAL. For information en¬
close a stamp to THE BRANCH OFFICE, 3341 W. Peoria Ave.,
Phoenix, AZ 85029. (602)993-7534. (TOO)
EXPLOSIVES AND INCENDIARIES: Instructions for making
NAPALM $8.95; SUGAR EXPLOSIVE $8.95; and the easy-to-
make, extremely destructive steel-burning THERMITE IN¬
CENDIARY $12. All three. $20. AMERICAN INDUSTRIES, PO
Box 10073 G.S., Springfield, MO 65808. (98)
FIREWORKS. High Quality, Fast Service. Price list $1.
MOUNTAIN STATES NOVELTY, P.O. Box 90007, Casper,
WY 82609. (104)
COVERT INTELLIGENCE—for the clever man of action.
Samples $2, $13'year — $17 overseas. HORIZONE, Box 67,
St. Charles, MO 63302, USA. (101)
KNUCKS—Genuine brass paperweights. Not cheap alumi¬
num. $7 postpaid. Immediate shipment. MATTHEWS POLICE
SUPPLY. PO Box 1754, Matthews. NC 28105. (96)
FOR HIRE: 6-year USAF-SE Asia Vet. Sharp, knowledgeable
professional with diverse background. Personal agent, inves¬
tigation. missing persons, courier, bodyguard, bounty, photo,
surveillance, etc. Individual or 2-man team. All projects consid¬
ered with utmost discretion and confidentiality. BIG. PO Box
6900, Huntington Beach, CA 92615-6900. (95-DDS)
BOUNTY HUNTING— Legal for anyone and very profitable!
For legal statutes and employment information send $2 and
SASE. Rush orders $3 cash. RESEARCH UNLIMITED, Box
90, Depew, NY 14043. (97)
THE INTELLIGENCeUbR AR Y — Many unusual, informative
books on Electronic Surveillance, "Creative" Locksmithing,
Weapons, Investigations, Documents, etc. Free Brochures:
MENTOR. Dept. G-2, 135-53 Northern Blvd., Rushing, NY
11354. (98)
BRITISH MILITARIA. Royal Air Force. Royal Navy, Royal
Marines, Parachute Regiment, S.A.S., Insignia, Head-
wear. Badges, Uniforms, Medals, Boer War Helmets, etc.
Send $2 for catalog. BRITISH COLLECTIBLES LTD., Dept. A.
2113 Wilshire Blvd.. Santa Monica, CA 90403. (107)
FIREWORKS— Firecrackers, Rockets. Roman Candles,
much more! Low prices. Highest quality. Shipped year-round
to all states. Illustrated catalog— $1. EAGLE FIREWORKS,
Dept. 3F, Box 000, Clackamus, OR 97015. (104-485)
Telephone Listening
Record telephone conversations in your
office or home. Connects between any
cassette or tape recorder and your
telephone or telephone LINE. Starts
automatically when phone is answered.
Records both sides of phone conversation.
Stops recorder when phone is hung up
This device is not an answering service.
Super Powerful
Wireless Mic
10 times more powerful than other mics.
Transmits up to V« mile to any FM radio,
fey to assemble kit. 15V battery (not ind.)
Call (305) 725-1000 or send $19.95+ $1.00 shipping per
(tarn to USl Carp., P.O. Box SF-2052, Melbourne, FL 32901.
COD’S accept For catalog of transmitters, voice scramblers
and other specialty Hems, enclose $2.00 to USI Corp.
.50-CAL MACHINE-GUN BELTS. Enhance your fireplace,
den. place of business with impressive and unique wall display
of authentic 1943-4 Frankfort Arsenal war-issue .50-cal. com¬
plete shells less powder with steel links for continuous belt.
Excellent condition. Massive 100 rounds nearly 9 ft. long
$53.50 plus $8 shipping: 50 rds $29.50 plus $5; 25 rds $17.50
plus $4. Also artillery shells, etc. “Nation's Largest .50-Cal.
Outlet. * JOE JELINEK, 1201F Cottage Grove. Chicago
Heights, IL 60411. (312)758-2183. (95)_
SILENCERS: Complete instructions to build your own from
materials available at most hardware stores. $3. WORLD
PUBLISHING, PO Box 64252, Fayetteville, NC 28306. (95)
GENUINE U.S. MEDALS— CollecLU.S./Foreign Decorations.
FASCINATING NEW HOBBY. Silver Star— $50; Bronze
Star— $35; Armed Forces Expeditionary— $15; Vietnam Ser¬
vice— $15; Vietnam CampaigrvSteriing Yearbar— $35; Add
Stamp In trade and $4 postage. Most other medals available.
SASE FOR FREE LIST. MARTIN LEDERMANN, 21 Naples
Road, Brookline, MA 02146. (617) 731-0000. (107)_
SERVE FEDERAL SUBPOENAS PART-TIME. Must be over
16 and US citizen! Details $2. PROCESS SERVER. Box 222-
F. Quincy, MA 02171. (96)
GUARANTEED
10 YEARS!
$
>1
96
SIZE
CLOSED
3"-$1.96
4 *-$2.96
S*-$3.96
Ifckoter Sturdy Leather Balt
and lodes CmmIIMM.
The knife for hunting,
fishing and all around
use. Mirror polished,
sharp stainless
steel bla
Rugged^^O^ finger oinL SurMrip’tXadUwxae. IF BflOKBl WITHIN 11
tSvKwiLLHEPUCEf-
back
into position. Press buttonjn
KNIVES* WE SHIP FREE. ORDER TODAY Midwest KniteCo.. DeptX ....
9043 S. Western Ave., Chicago. III. 60620 Mail orders only. OUR 49ft TEAR.
30 DAY MONEY BACK OFFER
SMOKE GENERATING DEVICES and other essential prod¬
ucts for survivalists. Largest most complete selection of fresh
smoke candles, bombs, pots, grenades. Smoke generating
capacities from four thousand to one-half million cubic feet.
Also flare guns, meteor and parachute flares, military knives,
tear gas aerosols, shock prods, steel whips, bull whips, exotic
information, electric ignitors, throwing knives, handcuffs, blow-
guns, chemicals and much, much more. Send $2 (refundable
with order), for catalogue. SIGNUS, Box 33712-K4, Phoenix,
AZ 85067.
PRIVATE MAIL and Answering Service. For the professional
person on the move who wishes to remain unknown and needs
a particular service: daify sorting and forwarding, copy service,
aand clipping. It pays not to miss a phone call or a letter.
Phones manned 24 hours for the convenience of our custom¬
ers. Monthly mailing list upon request. If you feel you need a
service such as this contact DEBBIE at (615)436-9785 (Day),
or write: DEBBIE, Rt 2, Box 682 Village Loop Road, Gatiinburg,
TN 37738. (97-485).
GUN FOR HIRE: 37-year old professional mercenary desires
jobs. Vietnam Veteran. Discreet and very private.Bodyguard,
courier, and other special skills. All jobs considered. Phone
(615)436-9785 (Days), or write: Rt. 2. Box 682 Village Loop
Road, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. (97-485)
DISCOUNT MILITARY FOOD RATIONS. Free catalogue.
MRE full meals, MRE components, other outdoor/survival food
items. RFCG, Box 1438, Largo, FL 34294. (813)535-7192.
(97)
ARREST Violators Ij
Wear the Badge of a
DETECTIVE
USE
SECRET _
EQUIPMENT
S«rv*lttaic* EiiImm*.
CrtolMiip Kill, §a4f*t
BrMcan Toto p l wti , Lag
IMtten, LKtytek Bass,
NO PREVIOUS TRAINING NEEDED
• Your spirit of adventure, danger, and
jv* self reliance can lead you to an excit¬
ing career opportunity. Solve myster¬
ies, bring criminals to justice, protect
the Innocent, Experts guide you every
step of the way. Men and women
needed to work in challenging situa¬
tions, withstanding hardships,
L make on the spot decisions.
Leam the latest investiga¬
tive techniques using special
law enforcement equipment
the same equipment
used by the FBI, the CIA, and the Secret Service. Start your
own Investigative agency. Save up to 25% and more on ail
equipment. Send for free details.
Approved by CaliJ. Dept, of PpWIc Imntrmt.
r THE ROUSE SCHOOL of Special Detective Training
I DEPT. SF509, P.O. Box 25750, Santa Ana, CA P2799
Ruth me your "Detective " Career Ktt—No talesmen will call.
I
—I
i CTy/wag __^ J
I Hm.
I***!
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 107
“HELP FIGHT CRIME—SHOOT A BURGLAR*’ bumper
sticker $2.00. “ILLEGALLY PARKED" permanent stickers, 5
for $2.95. Teach them a lesson! Add 50 cents p/h on alt orders.
FLYING DUTCHMAN ENTERPRISES, 13033 Wirevine.
Houston 77072.
PLASTIC EXPLOSIVES and dynamites made from common
ingredients. 120 formulas. Complete instructions $15. PLAS¬
TIC. PO Box 1881, Murfreesboro, TN 37133. (98)
SMOKE PRODUCTS — Grenades, pots, bombs at unusually
low prices. Buy from the source and save. Send self-
addressed stamped envelope for details. SOUTHWEST
SMOKE DISTRIBUTORS, Box 5414, Phoenix, AZ 85010. (96)
CUSTOM EMBROIDERED PATCHES. Five-patch minimum.
Your design, any size, shape, colors. Guaranteed. HEIN, Dept.
303, 4202 N. Drake, Chicago, IL 60618. (97)
M-8oTsALUTES, FIREWORKS, ROCKETS! Fresh from fac-
tory or make your own. We supply everything! Formulas,
chemicals, fuse smoke dyes, casings, tools, kits, more! Cata¬
log $1. NOR STARR, Box 5585, Pocatello, ID 83202. (95)
FOREIGN READERS. Attention! Wanted by collector:
machine-gun belts, parts, accessories, tripods and manuals,
any vintage; assault-rifle magazines, etc. Foreign pilot and
para wings and elite insignia. No trades. Price and condition
1st letter. PETER KOKALIS, 5749 N. 41st PI., Phoenix, A2
85018. (T/O)
Le COMMANDO
FRENCH FIGHTING KNIFE
Fairbairn-Sykes Commando Knife and scabbard
Black metal grip with stainless steel blade,
the hilt is fully marked Scabbard is leather
covered with intergral belt frog, metal clasp
and leather leg thong.
See F.J. Stephen’s FIGHTING KNIVES book.
Plates #532-534 on pages 104 and 105.
ill. catalog 1.50 or Free w/order
MILITAR1A INC.
138 Kearny Ave., Dept. SF
Kearny, N.J. 07032 (201) 998-7471
SPECIAL FORCES VIDEO TAPES. Operational Techniques
FM31-20. FIVE SEPARATE TAPES. Tape 1: Intelligence &
Psychological Operations; 2: Infiltration'S Planning; 3: Air Op-
erations-Communications; 4: Water Operations-Communica-
tions; 5: Demolition-Engineering-Medical Aspects of SF Op¬
erations. VHS only, $29.95 each plus $2.95 shipping & hand¬
ling. SELF RELIANCE GROUP, 316 California Ave., Ste 206,
Reno, NV 89509. (96)
RECON, THE ROLE-PLAYING GAME of the Vietnam War,
$10; The Haiphong Halo, $3.50; Hearts & Minds, $3.50; San
Succi, $5; Sayaret/Track Commander, $5.98. RPG, INC., Box
1560-A, Alvin , TX 77512, (96)_
GERMAN 2-SIDED Camouflage reversible smocks. Exact
WWII copy. Best quality 100% cotton drill. Type-one smocks
postage paid USA-CANADA. Postal money orders only.
Forest $94, mottled $99.5/6 overprint $120. Splinter reversible
to white $105. Others Autumn/Spring. Specify over/under 5'9”
tall? Matching hoods, M43 Field caps available. Five different
German 53" camouflage fabrics available. 15/22-cent US
stamps for Illustrated list/samples. BL O’TOOLE, PO Box
64385, Tacoma, 98464. (206)565-1951. (101-2)
LATEST MODEL 6 SHOT
ITALIAN AUTOMATIC TEAR GAS GUN
ONLY
*7B
POSTPAID
Fires 22 cal. tear
gas or blaftk ammo.
Solid metal. 6 shot clip ' — \
fed. Rapid firing. With in- ^ m \
structions & free cleaning rod. “
For self-protection, theatre^ dog I
training, sports. Purchaser must ' , 0
be over 2if Money back guarantee.
WEST8URY SALES CO. cuto-m..
P.O.BOX 434, Dept. TA-9-SF, Westbury, New York 11590
CIA MAPS
, AND PUBLICATIONS
Avialable for many countries and areas of the
WORLD INCLUDING; AFRICA, ASIA, EUROPE, MIDDLE
EAST, SOUTHEAST ASIA, CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
- APPROVED FOR PUBLIC SALE —
Also available: Defense Sapping Agency, National |
Geographic Society and United States Geological
Survey maps, charts and related products
PLANIMETKIC - THEMATIC - TOPOGRAPHIC
ideal for
PLANNING - BRIEFING - OPERATIONS
Send $1(US) for catalog to: Kearbridge,
P.Q. Box 1061, College Park, MD 207U0
- Wholesaler Inquires Invited -
FREE VIETNAM CATALOG. Combat Tapes, T-shirts, Docu¬
ments, Flags, much more. Enclose 20-cent stamp to: BIEN
- HOA PRODUCTIONS, Box 56 (Dept. SFZ), Fayetteville, AR
72702. (97)
SAVANT FOR HIRE: Professional investigator, bodyguard,
armed escort, bondsman, and bounty-hunter. Also have
knowledge of military and counter-terrorism. Am an expert of
weapons and demo. Prefer Central America. SAVANT, PO
Box 348, Athens, GA 30601. (99)
STATE PISTOL LAWS, regulations for all states and Federal
Gun Laws, both $4. Police Catalog $2. SCHLESSINGER, PO
Box 882, NY, NY 10150._
INVENTIONS, IDEAS, NEW PRODUCTS WANTED for pres
entation to industry and exhibition at national innovation ex¬
position. Call (800)528-6050. Arizona, (800)352-0458. X831.
(99) _
PRIVACY—CONFIDENTIAL MAIL. Forwarding/receiving.
Code name fine, street address, phone available. SASE.
ORLANDO MAIL DROP, Box 18039-SF7, Orlando. FL 32860.
( 100 ) _
LAW BADGES AND PATCHES send $1 for list Or $6 for 12
monthly lists. BPEC, Dept. SF1284, Los Alamitos, CA 90720.
(98)_
REMAILING: West Germany. $2 includes postage. Confiden¬
tial forwarding, receiving, holding. Free brochure. TWG, Post-
fach 1145, 646G-M, Gelnhausen, West Germany. (100)
30-40% OFF Gerber, Benchmark, Kershaw Knives; Redfield,
Leupold Scopes! Send $1 for complete catalog! KNIVES, 52
Edmund, Dept. SOF, Uniontown, PA 15401. (95)
"PEN GUN” .22 cal — you construct with ordinary tools and
hardware-store materials. Copyrighted and guaranteed. Rush
$4.95. ENTIUM, Box 1650(C), Carolina. PR 00630. (95)
Gl DOG TAGS, chains. Embossed to your specs—max 5 lines
of 15 characters. Stainless $3 set, black oxide $5 set. Shipped
1st class, same day. SASE for brochure. ARCHER, 3584
Haven, Redwood City, CA 94063.
NOW AVAILABLE!
Tt^Original adventurer > s ,
BULLWHIP
M
Thick,
High-Grade
Leather
From:
CATTLE BARON ' LEATHER CO.
mm Lt»TUa MAE - ft. MMW."
Used in EXPBNTKNS Around the World
All HAND-PUUTtO, THICK, Genuine
LEATHER w/
Original “Ruddy-
Brown" Color
• LEATHER COVERED
HANDLE 4 BALL W/
vu/ _ WRIST LOOP
__ , ■{_ TARGET USE WTM
... -m> »».;,minfi t in* in ii Q 4 PWCES: ORIGINAL 10 Ft. Length $99.95
M s&F U,S Eimo 12 Ft. $119.95
— Foreign Add am leather belt carrier $6.95
• A F0RMDABLE SURVIVAL TDX •
When Swung Property,. KMftX BtEHGY Makes
the TF Ot the ADVENTURER'S BULLWHB^* NWE
ATWBtttMFBETPaSBXMP.
■ WHP-HAN0UHG Instructions Included.
The HIGHEST QUALITY, TOUGHEST 8UUWWPS
Avaiabte - Perieoty tJiAXXD For ACCURACY.
4 TO 6 WEEK DBMHY
NO HASSLES • NO DELAYS
NOTE THESE 1UUWHIPS
AflE NOT TOYS » NOT CHEAP
TOREIGN MAOE SOUVENIRS
THEY ARE GENUINE
A T QUA TEXAS FACTORY IT
Wl
OCT CMP ("NONE OflKM Cdi tttSfl 887-3000
CATTLE BARON LEATHER CO.
P.O. BOX 100724 Dept. SOF9
SAN ANTONIO. TEXAS 78201
FINALLY AVAILABLE, MACVSOG belt buckles, solid brass
and beautifully engraved with the famous MACVSOG South¬
east Asia Battle Insignia. Handmade and limited in number.
$12.95 plus $1.50 postage. THE DELTA TEAM. 108 North
Main, Suite 6, Sebastopol, CA 95472. (96)
'GENUINE BRITISH CAMOUFLAGE jacket and trousers
$100, SAS Gasmask $140, pullovers $20, postage $12, list $2.
P.J. NASH, Wesley House, Leigh, Sherborne, Dorset, ENG¬
LAND: (95)__
ARMY FIELD RADIOS: CPRC-26 Infantry Manpack Radio,
compact, transmits-receives 46-54 MHz FM. 6 channels, with
battery box, antenna, crystal, hardset: $22.50 apiece, $42.50/
pr, good condition. PRC-9 Backpack Radio, factory mint, trans¬
mits-receives 28-39 MHz FM continuous tuning: $52.50
apiece, $77.50 with good-condition battery box, antenna,
handset. PRC-510 Backpack Radio (Canadian version of
American PRC-10), transmits-receives 38-55 MHz FM con¬
tinuous tuning, with battery box, antenna, handset: $39.50
apiece, $77.50/pair, good condition. R-390A Communications
Receiver, .5-32 MHz AM-CW-SSB, shortwave, amateur, mili¬
tary frequencies: $175 good condition. R-108 Military Vehicle/
Field Receiver, 20-28 MHz-FM: $27.50 mint. 45-day replace¬
ment guarantee. Add $9.50 shipping-handling. BAYTRGN-
ICS, Dept. SOF. Box 591, Sandusky, OH 44870. (96)
DYSART'S WOLF KENNEL
MACKENZIE VALLEY TIMBERWOLVES
Would you like to have a companion & protector bred
from the largest strain of wolves in the world, like the
one above? Crossed with the finest German Shepherd
imports; V 2 wolf and up, puppies & trained adults. I
devote my time to wolves & wolf-crosses only ,
therefore I can provide the Finest. All pups WBA
registered at no charge. Pictures and info — $5.00.
CHARLES 0YSART
Box 597, Henrietta, North Carolina 28076
Phone 704-657-6220 or 704-657-9273
DO YOU NEED A BUSINESS ADDRESS for all purposes in
West Germany? Strictly confidential. Here we are! MANAGE¬
MENT CONSULTANT M. JUNGHANS. Hermann-Brill, Str. 8,
D-6200, Wiesbaden. Tel: 06121-467726. (96-485)
ADJUSTER. Selective, effective. BILL STRINGFELLOW
(602)866-8060. (97-4S5)_
HBO DESCRAMBLER PLANS. Complete and easily fol¬
lowed. $3. STEVENS PUBLISHING COMPANY, Dept. SOF,
Box 20286, Bowling Green, KY 42102-6286. (95-485)
AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE by experienced professionals
contact THE BOSTON AIRCRAFT GROUP, PO Box 1027,
Melrose, MA 02t76. (95-485)_
FREE KUNG FU LESSONS. Guaranteed satisfaction. Send
$1 for postage McLISA, PO Box 1755, Dept. SF85-I, Honolulu,
HI 96806. (101-485)_
ARMY SURPLUS AND MORE. Complete line Army surplus,
gun accessories, knives, police, ninja, and survival supplies.
Send $1 (refundable) for price list. HUGH WADE’S OAK-
SHIRE PLACE, Hfway 51 South. Union City, TN 38261.
(901)885-6651. (96-465)_
VIETNAM LISTING (with free "Vietnam photos ') $2. WWII
Listing $2. RAY BUNTING'S PHOTOS, Rt 1, Box 154. Milford,
DE 19963. (99)_
DIVORCE DIRTY TRICKS. Fight smart! Protect property. Win
custody you want. Sharpest tactics. New 228-pg. bock $14.95.
Guaranteed. Details 20 cents. EDEN, Box 8410-DD, Fountain
Valley, CA 92728, (98-485) _
SECRET MAILBOX. Send and receive mail confidentially
Dependable, professional service. Details, long SASE. PRI-
VATE POSTMAN, Box 87210(S), San Diego, CA 92138. (96)
LOCKSMITHING, general & automotive. Unlimited informa¬
tion— $2 (unconditionally refundable if unsatisfied),
L.A.N.D.I.S,, 633 Post St,, No. 1048F, San Francisco, CA
94109. (103-485)
MILITARY HISTORY
ON VIDEOCASSETTES
See military history os it happened! World
War I through the Falkland* campcign. The
other side of World War II: original German
_ _ combat newsreels and features of the great
bottles. Rore Allied Army and Air Force documentaries. Also Korea, Vietnam,
and contemporary Soviet Army. Over 300 titles reproduced from original source
materials. Beta/VHS, also PAL Standard. Reasonable prices, fast service. Write
or phone for free illustrated catalog. INTI6NATIONA1 HISTORIC NUAJ,
Sox 29035, Chicago, Illinois 60629, Phone 3 T 2-436-B051.
108 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
INTERNATIONAL
MERCENARY
INSIGNIA RING
STERLING SILVER
□Iso available in gold
Fines! Quality Available
$49.50 plus $3.00 Insured
postage & handling
Calif, residents add 6% tax
Please state ring size
Allow 4-6 weeks delivery
five day inspection
FREE COMPANIES
P. O. Box 1164 - Dept. S
Boyes Hot Springs, CA 95416
U.S.A.
(707) 996-FRCO
8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time
SOLDIER, BODYGUARD, courier, investigator, name it.
Qualified and experienced. Have passport, will travel overseas
or domestic. Hazardous okay. Serious inquiries contact:
OCCUPANT, PO Box 6235, N. Augusta. SC 29841. (95-485)
COMBAT HISTORY ON VIDEO CASSETTE! WWII, Korea.
Vietnam. Over 70 programs. Free list for SASE. CMI, PO Box
40461(C), Nashville, TN 37204. (99)_
WILD GEESE SELECTION. Customized gold-plated
emblems for adventurers of distinction. Brochure $1, refund¬
able'. THE WILD GEESE, Postfach 1145,6460-B Gelnhausen,
West Germany. (96)
NEW UPDATED CATALOG every 2 months! The best new
books on martial arts, weaponry, self-defense, survival and
revenge! Send $1 to PALADIN PRESS. PO Box 1307-JSO.
Boulder, CO 80306. (107)_
MAIL PRIVACY! Confidential mail forwarding/remailing. For
details write: POSTAL SHOPPE, 369 East 900 South. Sait
L^ke City. UT 84111. (96)
T-SHIRT, Hat set. Airborne Wings — “Death From Above"
shirt $8.50, Hat $5.95. Prepaid, check to: SSP, PO Box 5017,
Springfield, VA 22150. (97)_
ARMY & NAVY SURPLUS from around the WORLD. Cloth-
ing, packs, tents, sleeping bags, gas masks, plus more. $1 for
Catalog. WORLD-WIDE MDSE. PO Box 577, Fox Lake, IL
60020.
MICROTRON Surveillance Security Equipment— ("World’s
Greatest Selection!'’ Law Enforcement Review, 1980.)
Crystal-controlled VHF TRANSMITTERS, TRACKERS, RE¬
CORDERS. NIGHTVIEWERS and COUNTERMEASURES
virtually impossible to obtain elsewhere!!!" Professionals
catalog, $20, refundable. General catalog $2. Send orders to:
MICROTRON, 42-38th St., Wheeling, WV 26003. Visa/Mas-
terCard cardholders call: (304)233-8007. (103)_
SMOKY MOUNTAIN KNIFE WORKS has over 1 million
knives and cutlery items at wholesale prices. $2 gets you our
giant catalog by 1st class mail. THE KNIFE CATALOG, PO
Box 714SOF, Sevierville, TN 37862. (97)
$150.00
ULTIMATE 58 Channel Converter w/lit Digital Display.
Wireless Remote Channel Select, On/Off, Search, & Fine Tune.
Jerrold 37 Channel JRX-3 Is Cord Remote Select & Fine Tune.
Both compatible w/all TV models & all cable systems.
TOLL FREE 24-hr. Order Hotline 1-800-824-7888, operator 310,
AK/HI: 800-824-7919. VISA, M.C., C.O.D., $5 ship.
NOTE: some uses may require subscription to local cable co.
£521 S. Vista Way, StB. 37 Carlsbad, CA 9200B
KITCHEN IMPROVISED PLASTIC EXPLOSIVES — The
finest book ever on the subject of improvised plastique explo¬
sives. This manual contains home manufacture of G-4 and 14
other high-explosive plastiques. Send $8.50 to: INFORMA¬
TION PUBLISHING CO.. Dept. SOF, PO Box 10042. Odessa,
TX 79767-0042. (96)_
ARMING G.L Practice grenades. Four 5-second fuses $10.
Make your own. book $4. FUSE, PO Box 1881. Murfreesboro,
TN 37133. (98)
Ml CARBINE, AR-15, AR-15A2. MINI-14, MAC 10&11.H&K
91.93 & 94, RUGER10/22, AR-180, UZI, MIA, Auto Ordnance
Ml, 1927A1 & 1927A5. AP74, AR-7. KG-99, Explorer II, Mini
KG-99M, Savage 980 & 987, Remington 552 FN, FN-FAL.
FN-LAR, FNC, Glenfield-60, Valmets, Maddis, AKMs, AKSs, &
Galils. Tec 9. Tec 9M. owners convert to SELECT FIRE. $10
for catalog on all above. RJL, Dept. TG. Box 82. Clinton Cor¬
ners, NY 12514. (97)
i___
G.I. SURPLUS: A brand-new list of military items (new &
used), includes clothing, knives, footwear, fieldgear, manuals,
etc. Send $1 to: THE SUPPLY SERGEANT. Dept. SF. 3095
Hwy 20, Buford, GA 30518, (96)_
NEW UPDATED CATALOG of unusual books on automatic
firearms, weaponry, home workshop guns, creative revenge,
survival plus much morel $1. PALADIN PRESS, PO Box 1307-
KMV. Boulder. CO 80306. (107-485)
RIGHT/LEFT/, RED/BLACK. Address directory ot World
Communist and Nazi Parties, publications. Hundreds listed,
$10 cash. "Know your enemy". MICHAEL SEATON. 3617
South 46th Street, Greenfield, Wl 53220. (95)
OWN YOUR OWN MOUNTAIN CAMPSITE. 20 miles from
Reno. Nevada. THIS IS NOT A TIMESHARE. Only $300 each.
In 100 mountainous acres, GEMINI WILDERNESS, 1355 N.
McCarran, Reno, NV 89512. (97)
AIRBORNE/ELITE BOOKS our specialty. Also, Vietnam
material. List $1, THE BATTERY PRESS, INC,, PO Box
3107C, Uptown Station, Nashville, TN 37219. (97)_
EAST GERMAN Communist "Ausweis" Cards in Russian/’
German with Soviet seal. Unissued, room for photo. Origin
unknown. $6. D. EWING. Box 993. Montpelier, VT 05602. (95)
EARN BIG BUCKSI Great new concept. Free information.
Send stamped, self-addressed envelope to: HOMEWORKER,
Box 367, Vacherie, LA 70090. (95)
“RANGER TRAINING MANUAL”
(FM 21-50 — 1962 Large Edition)
NOW ONLY $7.00 Postpaid
Free book catalog on request
Send Cash, Check or M.O. to:
“THE GREAT KEN HALE ”
P.O. Box 395, McDonald, Ohio 44437-0395
FIREWORKS: Free selected Class "C” price list, shipped
year-round. NEW ENGLAND FIREWORKS UNLIMITED. PO
Box 3504-F. Stamford, CT 06905. (95-485)
ITALIAN STILETTOS! Here’s one for your collection. 13"
overall, 6” polished-steel blade, positive front lock, dark handle
only, $18.95. 9" overall stiletto, polished-steel blade, positive
front lock, dark or white handles. $10.95. Include $2 postage
and handling. DUFFY ENTERPRISES. PO Box L, Dept. SF7,
Bayville. NJ 08721. (97-Ad 1)_
CUSTOM IMPRINTED CAPS— We print anything! No mini-
mums! Free brochure. CUSTOM CAP CO., Box 341B, West¬
minster. MD 21157. (97)
MILITARY SURPLUS— Chemical/biologicat warfare equip¬
ment, military clothing, equipment, decorations. Self-
addressed stamped (39 cents) envelope for catalog. JR
SALES, Box 4253F, Lancaster, CA 93539-4253,
BALLISTIC FACEGUARD. Kevlar construction, stops .45
hardball, $125 money order postpaid. Kevlar sample $8.
FRANSE, PO Box 3347. Boulder. CO 80307. (97)
NEED TOTAL MAIL PRIVACY? Complete personal business
service. Many privacy services/products. Write! SMS-SF8,
Box 3179. Tempo, AZ 85281. (96)
FOR HIRE: Ex-Paratrooper, team leader (long range patrol),
rangers (instructor). 3 tours Viet Nam. scuba, seeks employ¬
ment in related field. Will train-lead-organize. Preference given
to Central America or will consider Body Guard/Courier Ser¬
vice. Not a cowboy! Send phone number or details. Passport,
Bondable. Principals only! CROSSBOW. Box 15424. Colora¬
do Springs, CO 80935. (101)
TREASURE EXPEDITIONS: Share risks and riches. Men and
women needed now. Contact: FORTUNE’S OWN, PO Box
93E, Munising, Ml 49062. (95)
RHODESIAN/SOUTH AFRICAN War Books unobtainable in
USA. Write: GALAGO PUBLISHING, PO Box 404. Alberton
1450, South Africa, for free catalog. (96)
TUB
AOST POWERFUL NON NUCLEAR EXPLOSIVES
EVER DEVELOPED!
MORE POWERFUL THAN TNT, C-4 PLASTIC,
^NITROGLYCERIN OR PBXN-1, ASTROLITE O, AND
ASTROLfTE A-1-5 ARE THE MOST POWERFUL NON-
NUCLEAR explosives AVAILABLE TODAY.
EASILY PRODUCED PROM TWO COMMERCIAL-
IY AVAILABLE COMPONENTS, (3 FOR A-1-5),
ASTROUTE explosives CAN BE MADE IN A MAT-
TER OF MINUTES, AND WITH MORE EASE AND
SIMPLICITY THAN VIRTUALLY ANY OTHER EX¬
PLOSIVE KNOWN. GUARANTEED
ASTROUTE O
del. velocity 0,600 m.p,r.
ASTROLITE A-1-5
det velocity 7,000 m-P-s-
For Complete Manufacturing Instructions, Send S 15.00 to:
NUCLEAR RESEARCH
BOX 10073 G. S. SPRINGFIELD, MO. 65808
©1805 NUCLEAR RESEARCH
!!! ATTENTION VIETNAM VETERANS!!!
NOW DISPLAY THE RECOGNITION YOU DESERVE BY
WEARING A COMMEMORATIVE VIETNAM BUCKLE
CONSTRUCTED OF SOUD BRASS FOR ONLY $12.95
For Your Buckle Send A Check or Money Order For $12.95 Plus
Name and Mailing Address To: VIETNAM BUCKLE OFFER
P.O. Box 1262 • Greenwood, IN 46142
Pteaw Allow 4io8 Weeks For Delivery
MERCENARIES WANTED: Are you a military veteran, or
experienced in the areas of security, investigative, bodyguard
or mercenary? Then the IMA is for you. The IMA is a world¬
wide organization composed of some of the world's best spe¬
cialists, Our organization is dedicated to helping professionals
obtain employment. $20 membership fee covers lifetime
fraternity membership. 1 -year active employment file, and cer¬
tificate for framing. No obligation. IMA, Box 232. Shrewsbury,
PA 17361. (97)_
TANTO—BY COLD STEEL, IWof what is ranked as one of
the world’s fiercest close-quarter combat weapons. Nationally
advertised at $129.95. Buy now for $110 plus $2 shipping. THE
SURVIVOR’S EDGE. Box 16050-02. Shawnee, KS 66203, $2
US (refunded with order), for illustrated price list. (95)
CONFIDENTIAL COURIER. Any country, reliable, valid pass¬
port, knowledgeable traveler, professional, no contraband.
S/P, PO Box 2093, Virginia Beach. VA 23450. (95)
UZI RECOIL COMPENSATOR: Specify carbine or pistol: S25.
Will make for most firearms. Send stamp for information. JJN,
PO Box 215, Clifton, VA 22024. (96)
WORLDWIDE AUTHENTIC Military Medals. Badges. Wings,
Surplus etc. Over 20,000 items in stock. Canadian Airborne
Cap and Collar Badge set: $25 postpaid. Our latest catalogue
$2: cash. INVICTA INTERNATIONAL, 740 Gladstone, Ottawa.
CANADA KIR 6X5. (95)
VIETNAM VETERANS: Quality Khaki T-Shirt featuring
crossed U.S. and Vietnam flags with the wording, “VIETNAM
VETERAN ’ "DUTY, HONOR. COUNTRY". Specify S, M. L,
X-L, and send $7.95 plus $1.50 handling (III. res. add 48 cents
tax), to: KNOXGUN ENTERPRISES. Dept. SOF. 301 N. Cedar
Street, Abingdon. IL 61410. (95)
BINOCULARS—SCOPES, Steiner Military Marine designed
for NATO, also Zeiss. Swift, Swarovski, Jason. Finest binocu¬
lars. scopes at low discount prices. REC OPTICS, (800)247-
2499, in Michigan (616)343:8069. (95)
ROLEX WATCHES— also Heuer. Breitling, Chronosport,
Seiko for active people. Very competitive prices. Call
(800)247-2499. in Michigan (616)343-8069. (95)
AWESOME OFFER: Chaplain psychic mercenary reveals top
secret government report SDA 86-202Q. Evehts to come, in¬
formation. PKG dates, places et cetera. SCIENTIFIC DATA
—be prepared— SURVIVAL! $5 plus 50 cents postage. MO to:
CHAPLAIN COL CICfiRO A. COCCHl, Cicero Int i Ministry,
6622 Parker Square Drive. PO Box 186. Parker. CO 80134.
WRITE TODAY. (98)
"KUNG FLP'lock blade pocket knife-can’t
open accidentally. Heavy gauge 420 stainless
steel, 3%" blade. Chromed handle
W/BIk trim. Handle has pre¬
drilled hole for thong of
chain. Money back
guarantee.
$11.95 ppd.
Rush m e • " KUNG FU" knlfe(s) at $11.95 each
BJ MERCANTILE-DEPT SOF 985
P.O. BOX 370621-EL PASO, TX 79937
NAME
ADDRESS
CITY STATE ZIP
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLIHFK OF FORTUNE 109
ISRAEL MILITARY INSIGNIAS: All genuine including PARA*
TROOPER, NAVAL COMMANDO, AIR FORCE, ARMORED
CORPS INFANTRY, GOLANI, and others. Send $1 lor cata¬
logue or $12 for a sample of 4 badges. ISRAELI INSIGNIAS,
PO Box 31006, Tel Aviv, 61310, ISRAEL. (95)
DOCTOR AVAILABLE for short-term situations, nothing ille¬
gal, in U.S., PO BOX 23553, Jacksonville, FL 32 241 -3535. (95)
DEVELOP THE DEATHGRIP. Send for free course.
POWERGLOVE CO., 1450 E. .357 Street, Eastlake, OH
44094.
KNIVES, BLOWGUNS, Martial Arts, Now available at
wholesale prices. Large illustrated catalog. $2 refundable with
order. SPECIAL CUTLERY, 1104 Lee, Dept. SF, Des Plaines,
IL 60016. (100-485)
REGULATION INSIGNIA: All military branches and police. All
genuine. Over 1000 items including rank, wings, badges, mini¬
ature medals. NASA patches. Catalog $2: add $1 if 1st class
mailing desired. KAUFMAN S ARMY NAVY GOODS. Dept.
A-509, 1660 Eubank NE, Albuquerque. NM 87112. (95)
CAMOUFLAGE COLLECTION CATALOG— 32 pages: $1.
Jackets, pants, cloth, caps, berets, insignia, more. Genuine Gl.
KAUFMAN S ARMY NAVY GOODS. Dept. A-209, 1660
Eubank NE, Albuquerque, NM 87712. (95)
DOG TAGS, GENUINE Gl— Commando black or stainless
steel. Free brochure. Send stamped envelope. KAUFMAN'S
ARMY NAVY GOODS, Dept. A-809, 1660 Eubank NE, Albu¬
querque, NM 87112. (95)
CHOOSE YOUR WEAPONS WELL?
COMBAT HANDGUNNERY
From the basics to competition
training with diagrams and how to
■hoot courses. Coven the Bianchi
Cop, Steel Challenge and World
Championahlpe.
$10.95
MILITARY
SMALL ARMS
OF THE aoTH CENTURY
The standard reference in it'e field,
loo'* of firearme 60 cal. or leM.
Piet ole, sifbtnachineguns, automatic
and anti-tank rifl«*.N«w trends in
the tmall arms field. Fully illust¬
rated.
$14.95
CARD ACCT*Wo B TO? NEY ORDER » OR VISAOR MASTER
G.I. LTD.
33 WINROCK,SUITE 501b
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. 87110
PLEASE ENCLOSE SLOO FOR SHIPPING
FREE
m foe
order or
for $2.00
HAVE A CONFIDENTIAL Virginia mailing address. EDO, 300
Plurqe Street, Norfolk, VA 23510.
CAMOUFLAGE TIESI A must tor every well-dressed out-
doorsman. Genuine military-issue woodland cloth. Choose:
pointed end or straight fold...$9.95 each; 2 for $18.95. Add
shipping: $2 1st tie; 2 or more $3. KAUFMAN'S ARMY NAVY
GOODS, Dept. A-309, 1660 Eubank NE, Albuquerque, NM
87112. (95)
PRIVACY CATALOG FREE! Discover latest low-profile tech-
niques. Avoid banks, taxes, surveillance. Hide assets. Secret
loans, identity. Foreign passports. EDEN PRESS, Box 8410-
SR, Fountain Volley, CA 92728. (98) _
FREE MONEY SOLUTIONS CATALOG! Get new credit, jobs,
degrees. Home businesses. Cash income opportunities.
EDEN, Box 8410-SP, Fountain Valley. CA 92728. (98-485)
CASSETTES: German Marches, 60-minute. $8 each; 3 for
$19.50; ail 9 for $49.50. Send SASE for list. HAMMER, Box
1393-SF, Columbus, IN 47201, (98)_
FIREWORKS— Fun, safe, patriotic; top quality, lowest prices,
illustrated catalogue $1 (refundable). PYRO-SONIC DE¬
VICES. Box 711-SI9, Grand Haven, Ml 49417. (98)
CUSTOM EMBROIDERED EMBLEMS— Enameled pins,
your design, low minimum, excellent quality, low prices, free
booklet. A.T. PATCH & CO., Dept. 133, Littleton, NH 03561.
(603)444-3423. (98)_
GERMAN 2-SIDED camouflage reversible smocks. Exact
WWII copy. Best quality 100% cotton drill. Type-one smocks
postage paid USA-CANADA. Postal Money Orders only.
Forest— $94. Mottled— $99, 5/6 overprint— $120. Splinter
reversible to white— $105, others Autumn/Spring. Specify
over/under 5’9" tall? Matching hoods, M43 Field Caps avail¬
able. Five different Gorman 53" camouflage fabrics available.
15/22-cent U.S. stamps for illustrated list/samples. B.L.
O'TOOLE, PO Box 64385. Tacoma 98464 (206)665-1951
(101-1)
Original Pattern
CAMOUFLAGE M43 CAP
REVERSIBLE FALL TO SPRING. WITH INSIGNIA.
Sizes:
SM, M, L, XL
Only $35.
POSTPAID
GIANT Catalog of Camouflage
& German Militaria - $2. (Free w/Order)
KRUPPER
^_0OX 177K • SYRACUSE, N.Y.
RAY-BAN SUNGLASSES— 25% off list prices. Also USAF
NASA pilot sunglasses. All genuine! Toll-free ordering and
immediate shipment. Send seil-addressed stamped envelope
for free brochure. KAUFMAN'S ARMY NAVY GOODS, Dept.
A-909, 1660 Eubank NE, Albuquerque, NM 87112. (95)
COLORSLIDES— Vietnam action, Thailand, Hawaii, Hong
Kong R&R. Set of 20 slides & catalog— $19.95, specify coun¬
try. Write: VISUALS, PO Box 381215, Miami. FL 33138. (95)
FIREWORKS—looking for information? All kinds of technical
reports and manufacture manuals available. Send stamped
envelope for free listing. RSA, Box 146, Willow Grove. PA
19090. (95)_
EMBLEMS CUSTOM EMBROIDERED, any quantity.
THREAD LETTER EMBROIDERY CORPORATION, Dept.
SF, 1929 East 52nd Street, Indianapolis. IN 46205. (317)257-
1424. (98)_
VIETNAM, KOREA, WWII Veterans' Certificates. Colored,
10x13 with gold seal. $9.95,2 for $14.95. LOGSDON, Box 235,
Milpitas, CA 95035. (98)_
ROCKY MOUNTAIN COMMANDO SCHOOL 1st para-
chute—jump training, advanced freelall techniques, weapons,
survival, scuba—complete course by Special Forces and
Ranger instructors. To reserve a date contact: PO BOX 963,
Hotchkiss, CO 81419. (98)_
RED DAWN! NOT HERE! Join the North American Defense
Assoc. Ages 16-65. Send $3 for Application & Info. N.A.D.A.,
PO Box 889, Paradise, CA 95969. (96)_
"HOW TO KEEP YOUR PET from being poisoned" booklet
A— $2.50 postpaid. C. J. CHAPMAN, Box 410, Aripeka. FL
33502. (96) _
POLICE, FIRE, MILITARY, Aircraft Radio Scanners —lowest
prices— all brands. Send name and address for free subscrip¬
tion to discount catalogue from the largest dealer of scanners
in the world. SCANNER WORLD, 10-SF New Scotiantf,
Albany, NY 12208, (518)436-9606. (99)
REMAILING: confidential forwarding, receiving, holding—
send $1. PO Box 590982, Houston, TX 77259. (95)
FOR HIRE: Ex-Intelligence, helo pilot, weapons and electron¬
ics expert, diverse background. Courier, personal agent, in¬
vestigation. missing persons, etc. Will travel. JIM, PO Box
590982, Houston, TX 77259. (95)
WAR BOOKS: military history and weaponry. Civil War to
World War III! Free brochure. LEO BOOKS. 6917 Elkhardt
Road, Richmond, VA 23225. (95)
MREs— $59.95 ppd. per case of 12. C-Rations $48 ppd. per
case of 12, all fresh stock, WORLD-WIDE MDSE., PO Box
577, Fox Lake, IL 60020._
Gl DOG TAGS with P-38, $4,50 ppd. 2 tags, 2 chains (24"-4"),
5 line maximum, 15 spaces per line. 2 tag silencers, $1.
WORLD-WIDE MDSE., PO Box 577, Fox Lake, IL 60020.
H VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL
Stunning 16"x20", high glossy, color, photo¬
graphic print on high quaity paper. Magnificent
bronze statue; inscribed, black granite wall,
Perfect for home, office, fraternal organization, or
post Poem, fact sheet incl. $14.95 ppd U.S A.
MEMORIAL PRINT* DEPT. S * P.O.BOX 3412’FREDERICK, MD 21701
FOR HIRE: 2 Ex-Merc/Bcdyguards will collect debts or handle
other projects for you. No amount too large, high risk OK.
Travel nationwide, vast exp., East and We9t Coast. Strictly
confidential, reply: COLLECTORS, PO Box 1734, Smyrna. GA
30081. (96) ___
STICK IT to high-cost retailers. Our low overhead means low
prices for quality survival/military/camping equipment. For $2
we will send you our 64-page catalog, mailed 1 st class, offering
over 650 items, fronh combat knives to tent pegs. VARIETY
MERCHANDISE, Dept. X, PO Box 319, Merrick, NY 11566.
(96)
M-80 FIRECRACKERS $15 per 100. M-IOOs $20 per 100.
3/32 waterproof fuse 25 ft. $4,100 ft. $12. Postage $2. SUP-
PLY, PO Box 1881, Murfreesboro. TN 37133. (97)_
AK-47 & SKS accessories, send $1 plus SASE for list.
MICHAEL MESMER, 17 Center Crest Drive. Tyngsboro, MA
01879. (95)_
SPECIAL OPERATIONS, survival, wilderness-skills training.
Adventure treks. $1 for information. BOLD ADVENTURES,
USA, PO Box 873, Dept. SOF. Rome, NY 13440. (95)
MINI-MAGS $16.95 includes shipping and nylon sheath. Com¬
plete line of Mag-lite accessories and products. Free informa¬
tion. Dealers inquire. Knives & Survival. GREAT LAKES DIS¬
TRIBUTING, 600 West Orange Street, Greenville, Ml 48838.
(96) _
ITALIAN STILETTOS! 9" overall, polished-steel blade, posi¬
tive front lock. Black or white handles. $10.95 plus $2 postage
and handling. $1 for catalog. DUFFY ENTERPRISES, PO Box
102, Dept. SF-1, Bayville, NJ 08721. (97-2)_
MILITARY POLICE: Send SASE for prices on shirts, hats,
patches, buckles, etc. MEAN STREETS, Dept SOF, Box 88,
Boston. MA 02123. (98) _
KICKING SPIKES— Be prepared! Ideal personal delense
when jogging or anytime. Spikes 20-gauge steel, worn unseen
under shoelaces. Pairs black ($14.95), gray, white, navy, rust
($15.95). Postage and handling $2. Check or money order:
DEFENSE SYSTEMS. PO Box 297/SF, Awendaw, SC 29429-
0297, (96)_
ORIGINAL CIA black book of improvised weapons. 2 giant
volumes reduced to pocket size. $11.95 ppd. GROUND
ZERO, PO Box 335. Croton. OH 43013. (96)
WWII VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES, $24.95 postpaid VHS/
BETA: "CONCENTRATION CAMPS," "WORLD AT WAR,"
"APPOINTMENT: TOKYO." Details, SASE. Check, Money
Order, MasterCard/Visa. Rush to: WWII, Box 7202-S, Arling¬
ton. VA 22207.
lUrULiLLL’fc-
Gl SUPPLY R.R.HlBOX 782 o»pt sor
COMBAT AUGUSTA. N. J 07822
ASSAULT '^^ GENUt NE *
VEST
U.S Mil Spte N|4 m 0.0 106
Dud. fully idjuitible-ont tut
lilt ill. Iit«t rtici# and imp
down, til poudiM with Mtp
down ini1 bottom nnt tyttet.
rtinto 1 CM btudiRf, No ld(i in
vto poctolt. inttniclioa libel,
momdrtih peeked tod ptcUfed
$ 76
■■■■ luje <aMt pod
201 875-3252
0«KIIK IHIMiCTlO«L M«iq Otiu, pummI tbtekt
• Hnt MnN C*4 Mir KtwM HO Wt Ml
mutton** It lit* pt*M toudmHt «J Me*/.
Hem ad FierM tic* toi H Mr *i pMt -
SAiuruMMirx
MM SMC COM MiOO I EUft) Hn IQ pouchn Hot* 12 JO
Hn l< poodtos fattt «*M n or iwad tod t » ratod S S6 **
32-mmd wcuitoL ton tm mtsvuei oi wo to I 1U mm
ted tuto mautr, pocUti md 2 mtpnMt, 2 toft utudt poctoti
Mt pot Nti Un taM cm Md pt*M. toil*, mtp. hr*
ud lit. tic ud Mt. etc
Send $1.00 For 200
Item Catalog!
THE FIREARMS OWNER'S buyline. Dedicated to serving the
PRIVATE firearm owner with an economical, effective Adver¬
tising Monthly. Buy/seli. For info send SASE: THE FIREARM
OWNER'S BUYLINE, PO Box 403, Dept. SOF, Bailey, CO
80421._
UNUSUAL BOOK OFFER — Save up to 20% and more,
discount. Famous publishers: Paladin Press, Loompanics,
many others! Over 400 titles and growing — exotic weaponry,
explosives, military subjects, total self-defense, privacy, wire¬
tapping, credit, outdoor skills, knives, crime, survival, surveil¬
lance, disguises, investigations, home security, compromising
machines, silencers, mail order, publishing, employment, law,
fireworks, divorce tricks, acting, government surplus, intelli¬
gence gathering, chemistry and MUCH MORE! Money-back
guaranteed. Hefty Collectors Edition Catalog $2. Largest
selection for LESS! AUTHORS WANTED. ALPHA PUBLICA¬
TIONS, PO Box 92-S, Sharon Center, OH 44274. (100)
US MILITARY INSIGNIA: 1000s in stock. 1940 thru Vietnam.
Large catalog $1 — refunded. SAUNDERS, Box 414-SF,
Vermilion, OH 44089-0414. (95)__
SURVIVAL FOOD. Delicious and nutritious with NO preserva¬
tives and 5-year shelf life without refrigeration. Send $5 for
sample products and information. RANDY HOOVER, Rt4, Box
114, Mondoui, Wl 54755. (96)
EX-SEAL NAM VET wants to correspond with same, no
dreamers. BILL, PO Box 515, Lysander NY 13094.
SHOOT .22LR’s IN YOUR MINI-14
$139.95 *1*
CuttMCtoct. Meet* Order. COD (Hi mMeUetodtoeB MmTo)
Ertm Win. MayuKttt Stt.M M. - Order Oirtci ■ He Fa Atoelred
lw UdKIeael Mormeitee MUH
JONATHAN ARTHUR CIENEA. INC.
"SPECIALTY PRODUCTS’
HD i Ml UTS. suo Nwriei Of., Tiumute. anra. «*i iu-iui
110 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
BUSHPILOT WINGS
85.95 RHODIUM
CATALOG WITH PURCHASE
P.O. Box 20378 • Dallas, TX 75220
COL. MIKE HOARE is selling his house. 2 acres, secluded
wooded setting, study, cellar approved and tested to 2,000,000
rounds. $80,000 US. COL. HOARE, Box 441, Hilton, Natal
SOUTH AFRICA.
SURVIVAL PAIN KILLERS. Grenade Launchers, Detonators,
Nitroglycerine. Gas, Smokes, and more. FREE CATALOG!
NW, Box 962(F), Oriando FL 32802-0962. (98)
CIVILIAN MILITARY ASSISTANCE provides direct support to
the Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters. Please send a "Contra-
bution" today to: CMA, PO Box 3012, Decatur, Alabama,
35602. (96)
EXOTIC ELECTRONIC Devices (Lasers. Security and Sur¬
veillance) plans, kits and parts, catalog $2. F&P ENTER¬
PRISES, PO Box 51272, Palo Alto CA 94303-C. (96)
SURVIVAL IN THE STREETS: What
can a man do with a broken leg? Train
on our device and learn to break
anyone’s leg. Then finish him off. For
further information send $2.00 to:
Tracy & Page Inc., P.O. Box 715, Fair
Bluff, N.C, 28439,
LOOK! AR-15 Owners video tape on full-auto fire with NO
modifications to gun. Shows over 500 rounds fired in movie,
how to— legal. Send $39.95 to: ODAEC VIDEO TAPES. PO
Box 6212, Americus GA 31709.
Gl SURPLUS, Hunting and camping equipment. 56-page
catalog, $2. RED BANK ARMY NAVY, 12F Monmouth Street,
Red Bank NJ 07701. (96)
URBAN SOLDIER for hire. Have own tools, will travel. All
inquiries confidential. G.S.J.S., PO Box 8116. Sacramento CA
95818. (95)
CRIMEFIGHTERS send $2 for Police Catalog B-PEC Dept.
SF1184, Box 444, Los Alamitos CA 90720. (98)
MERC FOR HIRE— Experienced all types of work, long or
short-term, started the People s Republican Survival Army.
Even have Mercs that can work for me. DAN (904)288-1018.
NEED WORK FAST.
SURVIVE— When the power goes out, are you going to be left
in the dark? With photo-voltaic panels you can power lights,
radios, TVs etc. forever! Build your own kit in 2 hours for only
$275 pp (18 watts, 1.2-3 amps, 6/12 volts, 17"x 38” xVfe"), or
get ready-made Solarex Sx20 $372 pp (20w, 1.3a, 15v 17'* x
22” x 2”). ENERGY UNLIMITED, Rt. 20, Wayland MA 01778.
WHEN THE POWER GOES, YOU WON’T!
VIETNAM VETERANS!
Vou paid your dues ,
now proudly fly the colors .
Our quality khaki 50-50 *T* Shirt features crossed
American-South Vietnam Flags with lettering "Vietnam
Veteran. Duty • Honor • Country." $7.95 +1.50 shipping
and handling, ill. Res. add 48$ Tax. State Size S, M, L, XL
Allow 3-4 weeks (or delivery.
KNOX GUN ENTERPRISES, Dept. C
_ 301 N. C*dBf Si., Abtotfldoft, It
NIGHT MOVEMENTS— A true collectors item. Long out of
print, this rare translation of a classic Japanese military text is
widely regarded as the finest work of night fighting ever written.
Learn about night psychology; how to dress; training in night
vision and hearing, silent movement, night firing, use of edged
weapons, night demolitions, night patrol and more. This book
was used to train Japanese snipers, scouts and infiltration
experts in World War il and during the Vietnam era was em¬
ployed Dy Chinese Communist instructors. LIMITED QUANTI¬
TY— 133 pages and diagrams. Was $14.95, now only $ 10,95
includes shipping and handling. Send check or money order to
I.P. PUBLISHING, 825 25th Street, Qqden UT 84401. Allow 4
weefts dshvoiy._
POW/MIA Bracelets, stainless, engraved. You pick the name,
or one will be sent at random. PO BOX 515, Lysander NY
13094.
PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR/ Security Consultant now avail¬
able. Extensive civilian and military assignments in Vietnam,
Cuba, Iran and the Middle East since 1951. Nurtured and
raised by the US Army Security Agency, Office of Naval Intelli¬
gence and several other peculiar companies and associations.
Call ED In Boston and lot’s talk: (617)242-4816. (97)
FOR HIRE: 2 men in good shape, military background and
experience from Africa and the Middle East, seek high-risk
jobs, on shore/off shore. All offers considered. MR. BIRKE-
LAND. PO Box 3034 Moellevann, 4601 Kristiansand S.. NOR¬
WAY.
LIE DETECTOR. Complete instructions on how to win!
Guaranteed. $5 sent 1st class. CROWN, 9921 Carmel Moun¬
tain, San Diego CA 92129.
EXPLOSIVE FORMULA— Frictional impact. Smoke screen,
impact grenades, detonator, fireworks. Instructlons-suppliers.
$5 sent 1st class. CROWN, 9921 Carmel Mountain. San
Diego, CA 92129.
ILLUSTRATED CATALOGS FREE for 12 months! Throwing
knives, Hawks, Survival. $1.50 postage to V.S.I.P., 1422 Del
Norte Drive, Corona CA 91719. (97)
BADGES. Custom made— your specifications. Huge selec¬
tion. Giant catalog, price list $5 (refundable). Send day order
received. CROWN, 9921 Carmel Mountain, San Diego, CA
92129.
DISCREET MAIL RECEIVING AND FORWARDING. Ser¬
vices tailored to individual needs. Send SASE tor details. EX¬
ECUTIVE ADDRESSES, 1616 - 17th Street, Suite M-76. Den¬
ver CO 80202.
SPANISH LEGION, Paratrooper, SF, Camouflaged Combat
Suits. Waterproof-windprool doth set: Jacket with frontal zip¬
per, detachable hood — 7 pockets, pants 6 pockets. Size; S,
M, L, XL, $43 set. Write to: JUAN PERON, c/ Snta. Teresa
20.33007, Oviedo. SPAIN.
POLICE EQUIPMENT— Discounted! Huge catalog— $1 (re¬
fundable). CROWN. 9921 Carmel Mountain, San Diego CA
92129._
“KEEP ON*’ is available for assignment again. Short-term,
high-risk — prefer Central America. Executive protection,
Couner, Jungle Warfare and other. Contact: "KEEP ON"
(305)452-2729.
WANTED: Serious persons for our Exotic Weapons, Books
and Accessories Special Pricing and Evaluation Program. De¬
tails: WARRIOR'S WORLD OF EXOTIC WEAPONS, PO Box
58, Hartville, OH 44632. (96)
COMBAT SANDALS^
• LAND &
• WATER:
RUNNING. HIKING
RIVER FORDING
MARTIAL ARTS
BASIC SURVIVAL
JUNGLES/OESERTS
BEACH ASSAULT/WAR
• TOP SOLES ILeather) special water resistant.
• BOTTOM SOLES (Rubber) non-marking Brown.
• BINDING SYSTEM |V Nylon) 1000 lb. lest Brown.
• LACES (V Cordura Nylon) 750 lb. test Brown.
LENGTHS: 4 to 13’/* Men; 5 to II’» Women
WIDTHS: (N| Narrow to Med; (W| Wide to Med.
II a perfect medium, order (N)
Write usual length & width if known. 4/or
send tricing ot foot while standing.
NYLON LACES. WEBBING & LEATHER
ARE GUARANTEED S YEARS.
Send: $43 * $2. UPS
< Include this ad |
4 UPS Is tree. P
Or tor more Into 4 loot
sizing sheeL write or
phone: (6I9| 436-2222
M/C & VISA by phone.
Or phone your favorite
survival supplier.
Dealer Inquiries Invited
ALP SANDALS
244 N, HWY. 101 -B
ENCINITAS. CA 92024 ,
JOSEF MENGELE WANTED POSTER: Largest reward ever
offered. $2.50 ppd. Immediate shipment. BULLS-EYE
MARKETING. 6357 Wainscot, Grand Rapids Ml 49506.
ENRICH YOUR LIFE/HEALTH experience with "PROPOLfS”!
Send $1.50 (stamps), for your FREETAIRMAILED’, (63-pg)
book: Propolis the Natural Antibiotic.” SELECTUNE. Box
391 (SFY), P.C., Hawaii 96782-0391.
STUN GUN XR 5000. 40,000 volts $69.95; Viking “Power
Zapper” 46,000 volls $59.95; Mtrti-Zapper $49.95; battery and
charger $15.95. AIRPORT SECURITY EQUIPMENT. 109
Glengary, CoraopoBs, PA 15108. (412)457-7511.
FEDERAL FIREARMS License Kit. $4 (refundable)! Applica¬
tions, instructions, wholesalers, supplies, salestips! LONE’S,
Box 998(FN). El Segundo, CA 90245.
SOG-CIA CARD. Famous "Get Out of Jail Free ” Vietnam spy
ID. $2 (3 for $5). LONE’S, Box 996(FJ), El Segundo. CA
90245.
SPECIAL FORCES British, Commonwealth Medal, Cloth In¬
signia. Regimental, Divisional Patches and Titles. Send $2 for
illustrated lists, generous dealers discounts. J. TENNIS-
WOOD, 28, Gordon Road, Aldershot. Hants GU11 1ND. ENG¬
LAND. (98)
TELL THEM YOU
WERE THERE!
YELLOW ON BLACK
50/50 T-SHIRT
$8. 00 PPD., S.M .L.XL
ZEMO, P .O. 4gi 22Q81, TwttM , AZ 85734
Dtrtw Inqiln Abort Qwrttty Dtarngti
i
BUTTERFLY KNIVES
The Folding BALISONG
knives originated in the
Philipines-used bytheirfight-
ing forces. Now made into
fine quality hunting knives.
The blade is of surgical
steel. The butterfly design
protects the working por¬
tion of the knife. A lever
locks the handle securely
in the open or closed posi¬
tion.
Model K98-P
*8 50 Ea.
and *1 5 °
UPS charges
WESTBURY SALES CO. DEPT. P-9-SF
373 Maple Avenue, Westbury, New York 11590
ISRAEL) BALLISTIC HELMETS, new IDF standard, no sur¬
plus. Model C-AD14-N $175, C-AD14-K $330, indude size.
New BDUs, more US and Israeli equipment $1 for pages of
availabilities. THE CAMO COMPANY, PO Box 70505, Belle¬
vue, WA 98007.
AMAZING UGHTST1CKS, the ultimate light source! (Power¬
ful-effective-safe). A must for home, car, boating and camping.
Unlimited uses. Guaranteed! Rush $5 postpaid: ULTRA LIV¬
ING, Box 38141-S9, Honolulu, HI 96837. (For more informa¬
tion send SASE).
USA BERET, Green Beret with Gold Eagle Crest, for the
"PROUD AMERICAN" $18. A.H.A., Box 21606, Denver, CO
80221. MasterCard & Visa accepted!
LC-1 ALICE PACKS, US issue medium pack w/ straps NEW
$35. A.H.A., Box 21606, Denver, CO 80221. MasterCard &
Visa accepted!
INTERNATIONAL MILITARY Supply, latest listing of uniforms
& equipment from the US and around the world! 50 cents.
I.M.S., Box 21606, Denver, CO 80221. _
TIGER-STRIPE BDU Fatigues, Mil. Spec. 4-pocket jacket,
6-pocket pants, reinforced in the seat, elbows & knees $49,
matching Gl Boonie Hat $12. AH A, Box 21606, Denver, CO
80221. MasterCard & Visa accepted!
SECURITY: If you have a problem, you need us. Alarms,
Patrols, Investigations and Courier duties. We are very dis¬
creet on confidential" matters. Contact RVG SECURITY
SERVICES, PO Box 427, Ossipee, NH 03864. (603)539-4206.
(96)_
RANGER/AIRBORNE /Bodyguard Training Courses Catalog,
Details S2. CSTC-MISSIONS GROUP, 2100 N. Broadway.
Suite 37, Santa Ana, CA 92706. (97)
II I*** III iHPHI JL
MILITARY MEDALS
WORLD WAR II * KOREA * VIETNAM
Full Size li.S. and Vietnamese Medals. Ribbons,
Badges. Fine Display Cases, Miniature Medals,
Personal Service. Display the valuable Medals
awarded yo u or your family. Guaranteed!
o FREE CATALOG! o
WRITE TODAY! ► MEDALS. BOX 16279SF
FT HARRISON P.O. INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46216-9998
SURVIVAL TECHNIQUES by X-Ranger, Desert. Jungle,
Combat. $5 to FORBES, PO Box 45113, Boise, ID 83711.
COURIER, equipment procurement, confidential needs dis¬
creetly handled. TOORI, Box 26425, Tucson, AZ 85726.
VIET-ERA VET, 71-74. Could enjoy some South of the border
work. Spanish speaking and current passport holder. Box
26425. Tucson, AZ 85726 TOORI.
SEPTEMBER 85
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 111
foil |{ 10.00011 IMIS
II COUECTORS j
Hats-BadgBs-Medals of aff Nafiorti.
U.S. Officer’s Cap (new from
original U.S. maker), tan with
brown leather vlaor, chin strap
and U.S. Eagle pin. State size S,
M, or Lg.$58.00
We pav postage. Our 224 page
fully illustrated catalog $3.00
(FREE with order).
. W. #2 Ltd., Box 2063-F St. Louis, MO 63158
TIGER STRIPE Camo Berets, as worn by Elite Forces in
Vietnam, $18. A.H.A., Box 21606, Denver, CO 80221.
US SPECIAL FORCES Berets, current issue with flash & crest
$18. A.H.A., Box 21606, Denver, CO 80221._
US AIR FORCE Survival Firestarter, a necessary part of a
survival kit $5.75. A.H.A., Box 21606, Denver, CO 80221.
FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION Camouflage fatigues, current
issue ONLY $65. A.H.A., Box 21606, Denver, CO 80221.
MasterCard & Visa accepted!
Ml GARANDS: direct from the government, CHEAP; pur¬
chase instructions $6. HURRY BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE I!
INFORMATION SYSTEMS,,Box'2351SOF, Farmington Hills,
Ml 48018. (96)_
FREE GUNS and ammo frdm our government. Get rifles (in¬
cluding Mis) and ammo (all you can shoot) totally FREE. For
the taxes you pay they owe you this! Legal and guaranteed.
Instructions $10, CC/MO/CASH. INFORMATION SYSTEMS,
Box 2351SOF, Farmington Hills, Ml 48018. (96)
TRACERS: made at home safely and inexpensively; they work
as good as the ones that sell for $1 a round! Instructions,
formulas $7 CC/MO/CAS^. INFORMATION SYSTEMS, Box
2351 SOF, Farmington Hills, Ml 48018. (96)
ANIMAL REPELLANTS— Guaranteed vufgar scents. Long
lasting. Send SASE for product description/price list. "ON THE
NOSE," PO Box 1588SF, San Pedro, CA 90731. (97)
BERET WEARERS! Are you only in it for the money? Proclaim
your loyalties with our "dollar sign" beret flash! Only $3.95 ea!
DELOTTO ENTERPRISES. PO Box 2375, Devon, CT 06460.
06)
FULL-AUTO ROGER 10*22
Conversion plans, Mtrts. InclL, Com
plele In 1-hour, Simple and Reliable,
$10, E. Sweat, 612 E. LaPiata St., Far¬
mington, N.M. 87401.
POTATO MASHER CONTACT Grenades built in less than 30
minutes for only $2. Sounds unbelievable? Professionally illus¬
trated plans, simple instructions using only readily available,
inexpensive materials. A "must" for your survivalist arsenal,
$12. All orders shipped same day received.* ARMAMENT SPE-
CIALISTS, PO Box 6575, Dothan, AL 36301._
EXPLOSIVES formulas and small batch manufacturing proc¬
esses tor over 25 explosives - Nitro Starch, Nitro, Fetn., Cyclo-
nite, Edna, TNT, Amatol, Torpex, Plastic and many others.
$18.50— TVL, PO Box 3062, Dept. B, Peoria, !L 61614.
GENUINE USAF Survival vest with multi-pockets and leather
holster. $49 NEW. M1LITEX SALES, Dept. SF, Box 46499,
Chicago. IL 60646. 1
SPECIAL FORCES, Ranger, Airborne Unit Coins, Decals,
Flashes. 40 cents in stamps for list. PHILLIPS MILITARY, 121
West Monticello, Brookhaven, MS 39601. (96)
COMMANDO DAGGER: The complete illustrated history of
the Fairbaim-Sykes fighting knife. Written by Leroy Thompson,-
this book is invaluable to collectors and those interested in
combat knives. 0Vfex11, clothbound, 189 photos, 176pp. Send
$20 ppd to PALADIN PRESS. PO Box 1307-JCD, Boulder, CO
80306. _
MAN FOR HIRE: All offers considered, short-term, discreet
and confidential. Reply: ANDY, PO Box 12612, Huntsville, AL
35802._
HOUSEBOY/ORDERLY wanted for former officer; energetic,
young, sober, dependable, military training preferred, any dis¬
charge: PO Box 15911, Honolulu, Hawaii 96815.
EX-SF VET SEEKS short-term contracts. Serious inquiry only,
please. Box 26425, Tucson AZ 85726. TOORI.
PLASTIC EXPLOSIVES. Complete instructions, common
supply sources. $5 sent 1st Class. CROWN, 9921 Carmel
Mountain, San Diego, CA 92129.
MATURE WOMAN, interested in mechanics of how various
firearms work, would like to meet knowledgeable person with
time to teach same, preferably not someone's husband. Box
1106, Valley Stream, NY 11582-1106^
FREE BROCHURE— Large selection of Police Caps, FBI,
SWAT, K-9, CIA. etc. Also custom printing available. Z-
MARKETING COMPANY, Box 472-A, Elmont, NY 11003-
0472._
FOR HIRE: Ex-Fire Team Leader USMC Vietnam Secondary
M.O.S. Combat Motor Transport, experienced 10 years, Va.
Law Enforcement references and resume upon request. PA¬
TRIOT, PO Box 7421 Stewart Station, Richmond. VA 23220.
FIREWORKS— Where to buy firecrackers $3.50 a brick, rock¬
ets $2.20 a gross, M-0Os, blockbusters, and giant Class B
aerial displays. Complete directory of mail-order suppliers list¬
ing hundreds of fireworks, $3.50. PYROTECHNICS, Box 230,
RFD 1, Mystic, CT 06355. (98)__
CONFIDENTIAL Mail Forwarding Service, Privacy is our
utmost concern." For details send SASE to: DJL ASSOCI¬
ATES, PO Box 510, Varysburg, NY 14167. (96)__
PRIVATE, CONFIDENTIAL dependable mail forwarding and
remailing service. For FREE details, write B.P.S. INC., Suite
65, 11814 Aviation Blvd„ Inglewood, CA 90304. (97)
FREE PIN LIST. Law Enforcement Mini-Badges, Police,
Sports, Olympic. Fine enamel & Cloisonne pins. Send 50 cents
for postage to: B.H.P.C., PO Box 2504, Beverly Hills, CA
90213. (97)
Have You Ever Wanted To Own A
12 Ga. Machinegun
Now available to the public, a fully completed 3 position select-
fire conversion unit that fits any Rem. Model 1100 Shotgun. This
weapon, as seen on page 38 of the Feb./1984 issue of S.O.F., is
the first fully functional completely dependable select-fire shotgun
manufactured in the world: and now you can own one. At 600
R.P.M. you can deliver 120.33 cal projectiles producing 19,000 ft
lbs of energy, on target in less than 2 seconds. Nothing to
assemble, no modification to your shotgun, takes less than 30
minutes to install and is fully guaranteed.
*300® cashier's ck., money order or C.O.D. to: Wichcom
Industries, 4607 Barnett Rd, Wichita Falls, Tx. 76310
ATF approval required before assembly. We keep no permanent
records.
INFORMATION ON EVERYTHING is available to you through
one source: weapons systems, explosives, mercenary activi¬
ties, remailing services, surveillance and more. Write for free
information or send $5 for prompt sen/ice. THE ABORIGINE
INCORPORATED, Box 274, Ft. Polk, LA 71459._
SELF-DEFENSE fully illustrated PRACTICAL combat
courses. UNARMED COMBAT: hard-hitting commando style.
Superior techniques. $8,95. BLADE: no-nonsense knife com¬
bat. Guerrilla tactics. $6.95. Add $2 p/h. LIBRA ENTER¬
PRISES, 406 (SF), San Francisco, CA 94127.
BREAK THE LANGUAGE BARRIER
with this special message to the Soviets
in RUSSIAN
In California
add 6% sales tax
QUALITY 50/50 T-SHIRT
INDICATE COLOR/QUANTITY Q M L XL
BLACK ON OLIVE DRAB
GOLD ON NAVY BLUE
ORANGE ON BLACK
BUMPER STICKER $2.00 each plus tax
Send Check or Money Order to:
J.D. RAG IDEAS
4102 VIA DE LA BANDOLA
SAN YSIDRO, CO 92073
QUALITY KNIVES, Surgical Instruments. Field surgical kit,
$22. 0” Boot Knife $8. "40 uses” survival tool, $10.13" Bowie,
$19. Fairborn commando $17. FREE shipping. Dealers wel¬
come. HENRiKSENS SURPLUS, Lyngvegen, 1740
Borgenhaugen. NORWAY.
RHODESIAN LIGHT INFANTRY, solid brass belt buckles w/
the legendary insignia $12. Free shipment. HENRIKSEN'S
SURPLUS. Lyngvegen, 1740 Borgenhaugen, NORWAY.
EXPLOSIVES, Thermite, Flashpaper, made easily with com¬
monly available substances, send $10 to ROBERT
ANDERSEN. 1859 Prairie, Park Ridge, IL 60068. (96)
RARE BOOK on the speech of "PATTON" to his 3rd Army, just
before the Normandy Invasion. Book only $15.95 plus $3 post¬
age. “STAR". 12 Park View Drive, Bronxviile, NY 10708.
FALLOUT SHELTER: Plans and parts list costs under $200,
prepare now before it is too late. Send $10 to MARDEN, No.
259, PO Box 5288, Phoenix, AZ 65010.
EX-MILITARY Police Team, 2-4 professionals available for
Personal-Estate-Industrial Security; Bailbond 'Investigation-
Apprehension-Transport; Escort, Courier. Discreet, will con¬
sider and advise on all serious proposals. PO BOX 1151,
Binghamton, NY 13902.
DONALD E. ROSENKRANZ, 1st Lt., 3rd Div., 1954, Korea.
Please contact your old Korean War buddy DIMITRI, at tele¬
phone (806)078-6267. (96)
FOR SALE— Former Air Force Test Facility located on seclud¬
ed mountaintop in rural NW Mass. 20,000 SF concrete and
steel building, 1-mile-long private all-weather road, guard
house, high cyclone fence, very private. $330,000. (718)622-
5666. R.O., PO 705, Adelphi Station, Brooklyn. NY 11238.
WHO DARES WIINS. SAS, SBS Paras, Royal Marines,
Genuine Berets, Patches, Badges. $1 postage, free list. SAS,
4, The Leonards. South Cemey. Glos, ENGLAND.
BOYCOTT FONDA'S products, we mustn’t forget "Hanoi
Jane," bumper sticker, $2 plus L-SASE. R.N. POTTER, PO
Box 2700, Hunt Beach, CA 92647.
STOP RAZOR BUMPS Immediately and permanently. Yes,
beautifully condition the skin and permanently stop the process
of ingrown hair bumps with one 3-ounce bottie of soothing
PITTS AFTER SHAVE, and pay only $5. It is a great buy giving
wonderful returns. O. PITTS, Box 1494, Tampa, FL 33601.
FIREWORKS, where to buy! 9-page source book w/ address¬
es, information, valuable fireworks coupon!!! $3. CHURCHILL,
4230 Arista, San Diego, CA 92103. (96)
OFFICIAL St. Michael's Airborne Medallion -Sterling Silver,
13/16"xr, 24" chain, $19.95 ppd. EAGLE LTD, 635 Jefferson
St„ (SF), Fairborn, OH 45324, (97)_
INVESTORS/WORKING PARTNER wanted for Night CEub sn
Manila (Ermita). Minimum $10,000 required. Contact WYLLIE,
1400 Carpentier, No. 122, San Leandro, CA 94577, (96)
M-33 BASEBALL GRENADES, latest US Issue w/ moving
parts, inert, $8; MK2 "Pineapple Grenades”, $7.50. A.H.A.,
Box 21606, Denver, CO 60221._
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EXPLOSIVES, C-4, TNT, Nitroglycer¬
ine, Poison Gases, Plastic, Detonators, Dynamite, Smoke,
Tracers, Rockets, Fireworks. Over 500 formulas, instructions.
Book $22. FULL AUTO, 1715 Leaf Ave., Murfreesboro, TN
37130. (104)_
KNIVES, SWORDS, Historic weapons. Also custom hand¬
made knives. Your design or mine. Unbeatable prices. Three
catalogs $2. DE INTINIS, 107 Summit Ave., S.I., NY 10306.
COURIER, Escort, Personal Representative. Short-term, pri¬
vate or commercial. Canada, Hawaii, and the continental Unit¬
ed States. All offers considered. Totally confidential. SAND¬
PIPER, PO Box 3306, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106. (98)
LOW PRICES— Take-down Blowgun and darts $19.95, Nl
Baton $27.95. Cold Steel Tanto $119.95. Money back guaran¬
tee, checks, money order, MasterCard/Visa to Gi LTD., 33
Winrock, Suite 501, Albuquerque, NM 67110.
CAMOUFLAGE SALE! Genuine woodland OR RIP-STOP
BDU uniform. Pants ana jacket $20.95 each, $40/set. $2 FOR
CATALOG. MILITEX, Box 46499, Dept. SF-941. Chicago, IL
60646.
FREE GUIDE: You can end stress and anxiety and start life
fresh. Enclose stamp. NEWLIFE, Box 684-AW, Boulder City,
NV 89005.
MICRO BUGS Advanced bugging equip- E
ment. Concrete mikes, telephone and pen bugs. J
^ n , LL , and more. Send $2.00 to MICROCOM r
TECH CORP. for catafog. Refundable j
'with purchase. Unbeatable prices. J
MICROCOM TECH CORP. F J
* rUS^ANGE p -°* Box 347341 • Cleveland, OH 44134^
*★★★★★ ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ Ar
RADAR DETECTORS, Whistler, Fox, Unlder, Fuzzbuster,
Cobra. Lowest prices anywhere. Many other products avail¬
able. Send SASE to B.P.S., PO Box 501, Arncld, MD 21012.
CITIZENS SWAT TEAM, stop crime intormation and decal, $2.
C.S.T., 3989 Texas Street, San Diego. CA 32104._
BASIC ROCK CLIMBING and Rappelling. Intensive 2-day
course, $100. For info, write DARRELL, PO Box 3347, Boul-
der, CO 80307._ __
BOUNTY HUNTER, investigator, special operative. Confiden¬
tial service. ELDON, PO Box 53, Downing, MO 63536.
112 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
SEPTEMBER 85
EXTENSION $19.95
FOLDING STOCK $67.95
BLACK PLASTIC
FORENDS12
GRIP STOCK $45
FITS ALL T/C PISTOLS, CONVERTING THEM INTO LIGHT, COMPACT RIFLES. YOU MUST HAVE A 16”
BARREL TO MAKE THEM LEGAL WE ALSO OFFER BARREL EXTENSIONS TO FIT THE 14” BARREL
TO MAKE THEM LEGALLY 16".
TOP-FOLDING STOCK
$69.95
REM 870 • WIN 1200
RANGER 120 • MOSS
HI-STANDARD
10 SHOT MAG EXT $32.00
MAGAZINE EXTENSIONS
7-SHOT 18” BRL. 8 SHOT 20” BRL.
REM 870/1100
BROWNING A5
WIN 1200 • S&W 3000
$22
NITEX FOLDER
FOR STAINLESS MINI
FOLDING STOCK FOR
• .30 CARBINE • 10/22
CARBINE STOCK FITS Gl,
IVER JOHNSON, OR UNIVERSAL
$79.95 SPECIFY WHICH FIREARM
SHOTGUN PISTOL GRIP
^L-fieifaF
$15.95
REM 870 • ITHACA 37 • WIN 1200
RANGER 120 • MOSS 500
HI-STANDARD
AR-15 BUTTSTOCK
EXTENSION
$15
REPLACES FACTORY
BUTTPLATE AND ADDS
ONE INCH TO LENGTH
MINI-14- SHOWN
AVAILABLE FOR MINI-14
10 / 22 *
.30 CARBINE
(G.l. OR UNIVERSAL)
ONE PIECE PISTOL GRIP
STOCK
$44.95
MADE WITH UNBREAKABLE
DU PONT* ZYTEL
MINI-14 30 RD MAGS BLUED S14.95 STAINLESS $16.95
SIDE FOLDING STOCK KIT
WITH RUBBER RECOIL PAD
FOR WIN 1200 • RANGER 120
REM 870 * S&W 3000 * MOSS 500
COMES WITH FOREND
(PLEASE SPECIFY)
VENTILATED HANDGUARD
AR-15 / Ml6
BUTT STOCK
BLACK PLASTIC
OFFHAND NOTCH 3/4” LONGER $30
ROUND HANDGUARO S24.95
NEW CANADIAN ARMY 30-RD ZYTEL MAG S12.95
TELESCOPING ZYTEL MAG STORE L0ADE0 20 YEARS
OR EXPAND TO 45 RDS. S24.95
MINI-14
10/22
CARBINE STEEL
$8
$8
$8
BLACK NON-SLIP RUBBER
EXTENDED
BUTT PLATE
*15
FITS MINI-14 — »3 10/22
AND 44 MAG RIFLE
ADDS 1 INCH TO LENGTH
1100 SHOWN
PLASTIC PISTOL GRIP STOCKS FOR SHOTGUNS
BENELLI $
AND SPAS
STOCKS
NOFORENDS
45
FORENDS FOR SHOTGUNS $9.95
WIN 1200 • RANGER 120 * MOSS 500-600
ITHACA 37 • REM 870
BLACK PLASTIC FORENDS-MORE CONTROL-NON SLIP
REM 1100 FOREND S20
XR-5000 “STUN GUN”
40,000 VOLTS OF STUNNING POWER
YOU OR YOUR WIFE NOW CAN DEFEND YOURSELVES AGAINST
DRUNKS, PCP USERS. MUGGERS, ANIMALS OR ANY KIND OF OF.
FENDERS WITHOUT DEADLY FORCE AND ALSO LESS LIABILITY RISK.
A SHORT 2 OR 3 SECOND BLAST WILL DAZE AND DROP EVEN THE
BIGGEST. STRONGEST ATTACKER {EFFECTIVE EVEN WHEN AN AT¬
TACKER IS WEARING A HEAVY LEATHER JACKET) YET THERE IS NO
PERMANENT INJURY-GIVING YOU PLENTY OF TIME TO GET AWAY.
$69.95 Unit WITH FREE NYLON CASE
QUARTERMASTER
SALES
BLACK BALL CAP
$4.50 EA
STD $129.90
UZI $189.90
AR 15 $159.90
MINI-14 $159.90
H&K $189.90
FN $209.95
ARMSON O.E.G.
FASTEST SIGHT DAY OR NIGHT
YOU USE BOTH YOUR EYES
AT THE SAME TIME ■ JUST PUT THE RED
DOT ON TARGET AND SHOOT.
NEW .22 GROOVED RECEIVER MODELS $74.95 (Day only)
AVAILABLE FOR SHOTGUNS • CARBINES • ASSAULT
RIFLES * HANDGUNS
.22 DAY OR NIGHT $99.95
EAGLE
RIFLE CASE
LIGHTWEIGHT AND RELIABLE.
MADE OF 11-OZ. WATER REPELLENT
CORDURA NYLON. CLOSED-CELL FOAM PADDING
FOR MAXIMUM WATER RESISTANCE AND SHOCK
ABSORBANCY. REINFORCED, WIDE-WEBBED CARRYING HANDLES.
LARGE FRONT COVER CARGO AND REAR AMMO POUCHES. HEAVY-DUTY
“YKK” ZIPPERS. COMES IN BLACK OR WOODLAND CAMP.
SPECIFY WHICH RIFLE OR STOCK
“THE FINEST IN TACTICAL EQUIPMENT
$4.00 Shipping Each Stock
$2.00 Each Other Items
SEND $2 FOR 40 PAGE CATALOG
Please Send Money Order or Cashier's Check
Call for Credit Card Orders For Faster Service
ORDERS 6 TO 6 MST
1-800-552-0070 EXT. 543
QUESTIONS 10-5:30 M-F
1-505-884-8822
7201 AVENIDA LA COSTA NE - ALBUQUERQUE, NM 87109
4609 MENAUL NE • ALBUQUERQUE • NM 87110
NO POSTAGE
NECESSARY
IF MAILED
IN THE
UNITED STATES
BUSINESS REPLY MAIL
FIRST CLASS PERMIT NO. 9 MT. MORRIS, IL
POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE
GUNS & ACTION Magazine
P.O. Box 349
Mt. Morris, IL 61054-9980
□ YES! Send me one year (12 issues) of SOF for
only $23.95. I SAVE 33%.
(Savings based on annual newsstand rate of $36.)
□ Payment enclosed (U r S. Funds only)
□ MasterCard □ VISA
Card #_^—--— - Exp. Date_
Signature_
Name:_
Address:... ..„
City^- -— -*— State:-Zipcode:_
B9SBR5
(Offer good in U.S., Mexico & Canada wily. Foreign & Special Domestic rates available upon request)
Please allow 6-8 weeks for your first copy to be mailed.
SOLDIER of FORTUNE
Offer expires 5/31/86
NO POSTAGE
NECESSARY
IF MAILED
IN THE
UNITED STATES
BUSINESS REPLY MAIL
FIRST CLASS _ PERMIT NO. B _ MT. MORRIS, IL
POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
P.O. Box 348
Mt. Morris, IL 61054-9984
NO POSTAGE
NECESSARY
IF MAILED
IN THE
UNITED STATES
BUSINESS REPLY MAIL
FIRST CLASS PERMIT NO. 22 CHICAGO, ILL.
POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE
TIME
LIFE
BOOKS
Time & Life Building
541 North Fairbanks Court
Chicago, Illinois 60672-2058
IiIIiiIIiiiiIIiiIiiiImIiIiiIiIIIiiiiIiIiIiiIiiIiiII
10 days inside
Hitler’s dark empire
...FREE!
BONUS!
Get a set of
SIX PRINTS OF TOP
WWII FIGHTER PLANES
The Great Warhirds...
absolutely free just for
ordering your first book now.
YES. I would like to examine The Nazis as my introduction
to World War II. Please send it to me for 10 days’ free exami¬
nation along with future volumes under the terms described
in the accompanying ad. CGFB85
Name
Address
(please prim)
A pi.
City
Smte/Provincp
Zip/Postal Code
Signature
♦Prices subject to change. AH orders arc subject to approval.
In Canada, please mail this card in an envelope,
□ PAYMENT ENCLOSED (U.S. FUNDS ONLY)
□ MASTERCARD □ VISA
CARD #_EXP. DATE_
(Offer good in U.S., Mexico & Canada only.
Foreign & Special Domestic rates available upon request.)
Offer expiree 12/31 /$5 B9SFR5
CARIBBEAN
SEA
□ YES! Send me one year (12
issues) of Soldier of Fortune
for $23.95 — I save 33%.
□ I prefer two years (24 issues) ^
for only $43.95 — I save 38%.
Savings based on annual newsstand rate
of $36.
NAME
PACIFIC
OCEAN
* CONTRA ATTACKS
A CONTRA CAMPS
Jlfe MINE EXPLOSION
NO POSTAGE
NECESSARY
IF MAILED
IN THE
UNITED STATES
BUSINESS REPLY MAIL
FIRST CLASS
PERMIT NO. 8
MT. MORRIS, IL
In a survival situation,
you want the most un¬
compromising weapon
that money cm buy. The
HK 91 Semi- Automatic
Assault Rifle from
Heckler 3c Koch. 1
The HK 91 was derived
directly from the G3. Its
delayed roller-locked bolt
system reduces recoil to
keep the gun on target] It
exceeds the most stringent
NATO accuracy Require¬
ments—right out of the
box. AndHKsrevolution¬
ary scope n\o Lit i ting system
guarantees that you re still
zeroed-in every time you
mount your scope.
Easy to maintain and
take apart, the HK 91 in
cal. 308 and the HK. 93
in cal. 223 were both de¬
signed as parts of an inte¬
grated gun system. The [ IK
system of interchangeable
pi ts and accessories enables
these precision firearms to
adapt quickly to changing
tactical situations.
Leading military oper¬
ations and law enfbrceilicnt
agencies around the world
rely on firearms chat bear
tlieH&K name. Your dioice
is equally dear. You can
carry an ordinary weapon.
Or own the most uncom¬
promising firearm
in the world. v M
you’re determined to survive
i leave nothing to chance.
f Jr ForOuy^l-jWi*
2 ^ , ■■ oOar brochure,
^ st'Uil 5,3 to :
Hi'ekkr & Kock /F?r.
14601 Lte Rinuf
Chantilly, Virfiitmi 22021
Tel. 703-6.V -2H00
9 m m —* ~
-
[ * i
<7f
t tflft
Live Music
Archive
Librivox
Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland
Museum of Art
Internet
Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American
Libraries
TV News
Understanding
9/11